


Must Seem So Strange

by rsadelle



Category: Bandom, Jonas Brothers, The Academy Is...
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-29
Updated: 2010-10-29
Packaged: 2017-10-26 13:11:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/283550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rsadelle/pseuds/rsadelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike doesn't really know how these things happen to him. No, wait, he does. He can totally blame it on Bill. / Kevin doesn't really know how these things happen to him. It's possible he was a disobedient lemur in a past life and this is how the universe is letting him make amends. Or maybe there's like, some kind of quota for number of crazy things a person has to do in his life, and fate's just helping him along. But probably, <em>probably</em> it's just Joe's fault.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Must Seem So Strange

**Author's Note:**

> The story behind this story is that last August [](http://skoosiepants.livejournal.com/profile)[**skoosiepants**](http://skoosiepants.livejournal.com/) posted [a prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/sodamnskippy/3788.html) for a story wherein Mike and Kevin meet on Halloween when Pete has assigned Mike to dress in drag. I wrote a beginning, and then I kept writing. And writing and writing and writing. And eventually I reached a place where I didn't really want to be working on this anymore, and it does have an ending that more or less works as an ending. To be a real story, it would need some editing and possibly another 30,000 words. Sadly, this is not going to happen, but I still love much of it and you might enjoy it.
> 
> Thanks are due to [](http://eleanor-lavish.livejournal.com/profile)[**eleanor_lavish**](http://eleanor-lavish.livejournal.com/) , [](http://sunk-the-glow.livejournal.com/profile)[**sunk_the_glow**](http://sunk-the-glow.livejournal.com/) , [](http://lakeeffectgirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**lakeeffectgirl**](http://lakeeffectgirl.livejournal.com/) , and [](http://mayqueen517.livejournal.com/profile)[**mayqueen517**](http://mayqueen517.livejournal.com/) , who let me add them to the Google Doc so I would feel responsible to someone and who left me entertaining and helpful comments. I've been working on this for a long time, so there may have been other people who were also helpful in ways I've since forgotten about. You have my thanks too.
> 
> [Soundtrack](http://rsadelle.livejournal.com/298085.html)

Mike doesn't really know how these things happen to him. No, wait, he does. He can totally blame it on Bill. Bill is the one who's always thought being friends with Pete is a good idea. Mike knows better, and has expressed said knowledge many times before. It never seems to get through.

The alcohol is helping. Sort of. It does nothing to stop the "Hey, pretty girl" comments he's getting from everyone from Bill to Patrick to seemingly sweet Greta. It does mean he doesn't care as much.

"This was a shitty idea," Mike says when he finally gets near Pete. He thinks about throwing a punch, but he's probably already drunk enough that it wouldn't connect.

"No, no, dude, this was an _awesome_ idea." Pete grins at him.

Mike gestures at himself, babydoll tee with "SLUT" spelled out in glitter across the chest, skirt short enough to put most of his thighs on display, thankfully flat but also glittery shoes. " _This_ was not an awesome idea."

"Pete! Awesome idea!" Brendon careens into Pete's side, hugs him tight, and bounces off again. He would think it was awesome. Pete assigned him to be Robin to Spencer's Batman.

Jon's apparently on Brendon duty, because he follows along in his wake and tosses, "Nice legs, dude," at Mike on his way past. Bastard knows not to get too close with a line like that. Mike doesn't even want to think about what it's going to be like when the hair starts growing back. At least he'll be wearing pants so no one will notice. Except everyone he knows is here, which means they'll all know.

He gets another drink.

*

Kevin doesn't really know how these things happen to him. It's possible he was a disobedient lemur in a past life and this is how the universe is letting him make amends. Or maybe there's like, some kind of quota for number of crazy things a person has to do in his life, and fate's just helping him along. But probably, _probably_ it's just Joe's fault.

It was Joe's idea to go out for pizza in the middle of the night on Halloween, and it was Joe who wouldn't let him be a zebra and made them be the T-Birds instead. Even Nick's quiet observation that "At least it wasn't the Pink Ladies" didn't make him much happier about it. He really wanted to be a zebra. Or, like, a cheetah. Something with a pattern.

So it's Joe's fault he's in a crowded pizza parlor on what is technically the day after Halloween when a girl in a really, really, _really_ short skirt knocks into him and he reaches out to grab her so she doesn't fall and gets a handful of her waist where it's bare between her shirt and her skirt.

"Are you okay?" Kevin asks, or starts to ask, because he looks at her halfway through the question and she's _beautiful_ and he kind of forgets how to speak.

"Let go of me," she says, or Kevin thinks she does. Now that he's noticing her, he can tell she's pretty drunk, and her words kind of slur together into one surprisingly deep tangle of syllables. She pushes at him, but when he lets go she starts to sway, and Kevin grabs at her again.

A guy dressed liked a tree - probably a willow, by the way his arms are all long and drapey, although maybe that's just the way his arms are - turns around from where he's talking to a guy dressed as a crocodile, or maybe an alligator - the difference is something about their teeth, and this guy just has regular old human teeth - and looks all the way down at Kevin and the girl.

"How kind of you," the tree says, "to take care of Mike in such a state of inebriation."

Mike's kind of a weird name for a girl, but Kevin's dressed in a leather jacket that precisely matches his brothers', so he's not really one to judge.

"Gonna kill you," Mike says, but she appears to be talking to the tree and not to Kevin. "'n Pete."

"No way," some other guy says, and when Kevin turns his head to look, Batman, Robin, the Joker, and a scowling Harley Quinn are standing on Mike's other side. "This is Pete's best idea ever." Robin punctuates this statement with a lot of grinning.

"Kevin," Joe whines, and Kevin jumps and twists his head to the other side where his brothers are now standing next to him, "why is it taking you so long to get our pizza?"

"Sorry," Kevin says, but Mike cuts in before he can explain.

"What are you?" She's still slurring her words and leaning heavier and heavier on Kevin, but it's clear enough what she means.

"The T-Birds!" Joe proclaims. He turns around to show off the back of the jackets to anyone who will look.

Mike doesn't look impressed. Or maybe she's trying not to throw up. She's not doing a very good job of standing up. She takes like half a step forward and slumps back against Kevin. He wraps his other arm around her too to keep her up.

The tree takes charge of things. "If you young gentlemen would take Mike and find us all a table, Ryan will spring for pizza."

"I will not," the scowling Harley Quinn says. "Spencer can do it."

Batman rolls his eyes. "We'll split it." He tips Robin towards the Joker. "Go with them."

So Nick and Joe pull tables together while Kevin tries to keep Mike from falling over long enough to push her into the booth Nick and Joe are building up into a table that's almost big enough to be from that scene in _Batman_.

*

Mike's pretty drunk, but he's still pretty sure the guy he's somehow leaning against is hitting on him. Maybe. The guy hasn't stopped touching him anyway. Of course, the guy is dressed ridiculously precisely for after midnight on Halloween, and who perfectly coordinates their Halloween costumes with their brothers anyway?

"So that's Kevin," the one with straightened hair says, pointing at the guy whose arm is still around Mike's waist. "I'm Joe, and this," he wraps his arm around the other guy's shoulder and gives him a noogie, "is Nick."

Nick shoves at Joe. "Knock it off."

Joe shoves back. Their see-sawing is making Mike even more nauseous than he already is. He drops his head down onto the table. This is the worst Halloween ever.

"Hey, Mike," Kevin says, and his pointy fingers poke at Mike's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

There's a rush of sound, voices and things clunking down onto the table, and then somehow Kevin's pressed even closer to Mike. It feels surprisingly good. It must be because it's late and getting cold.

"See if you can get him to drink this," Bill says, and then Kevin's arm around him tugs him back up.

"Your friend brought you some water," Kevin says. Mike has no idea how anyone can be that earnest. He just stares at the glass in front of him. Picking it up is starting to seem like a lot of effort. "You want a straw?" Kevin reaches out to a pile of straws and grabs one. He pushes it out of the wrapper one-handed and plunks it into the glass. "This would be so much better if we had bendy straws," Kevin says. "Bendy straws are awesome. Do you like bendy straws?"

Mike leans forward and sucks at the straw. This is not a conversation he needs to have. Drinking isn't much better. Water's only going to sober him up, and he doesn't know why Bill didn't get him something with some taste. Like a Coke. Or a beer. He could really go for a beer.

His water glass is empty in what seems like no time, and, like magic, a hand appears with a pitcher and refills it.

Mike has lost, uh, something, because the next thing he knows Bill's putting a plate with a slice of pizza on it in front of him and Kevin's arm is back around his waist and Kevin's thumb is making circles on the bare skin between Mike's skirt and the shirt he's given up pulling down to meet it.

The pizza is pretty much the best thing ever, and Kevin's thumb stutters and then picks up its rhythm again when Mike moans at the first bite. Definitely hitting on him.

*

So Mike eats pizza like she's never eaten anything before, and when she finishes the first piece, she licks sauce and grease off of her fingers before demanding someone pass the pizza down so she can get another slice. She's also incredibly warm against Kevin's side, and the skin under his hand is soft and smooth.

Kevin's not paying a lot of attention to the conversation Joe and Nick are having with Mike's friends until one of them says her name.

"Mike's our guitarist," the tree says - no, wait, his name is Bill.

"You play guitar?" Kevin asks. "So do I." He beams at Mike.

"What? In your mom's garage?" Mike's sobering up; it comes out pretty clear.

"No," Kevin says, "in a band. The Jonas Brothers."

Mike squints at him. "Part of their backing band?"

Across the table, Nick and Joe both look like they're about to laugh. Kevin kicks out and hits Joe, going by the way it's Joe who says, "Ouch!"

"No," Kevin says. He waves his hands at his brothers. "We're the Jonas Brothers. The three of us."

Mike blinks at him a couple of times. Her eyeshadow sparkles in the light every time her eyes close. She grabs Kevin's hand on her hip and drags it up. Kevin has to scoot closer to her for it to work. Not that he minds.

"So this," she says, touching Kevin's ring, and she's really sober enough for her words to be clear now, "is one of those purity rings."

Kevin is more used to answering questions about this than he wants to be, so he just says, "Yes," and doesn't look down the table where some of Mike's friends - he thinks it's Chiz and Sisky, certainly the crocodile - he's Australian, so not an alligator - and the sponge - are laughing at them.

But all Mike says is, "Huh," and then she drops Kevin's hand back onto her hip. Mike seems to care more about reaching for another slice of pizza than she does about Kevin's ring.

*

Mike's like four slices of pizza and three glasses of water in when he realizes he's pretty much sober again, and that is no way to spend Halloween in drag being hit on by one of the fucking Jonas Brothers.

He leans around Kevin to peer down the table. For some reason the pitchers on the table do not include one of beer. He frowns at Bill. "Are we being good for the kids?"

"You've had enough for one evening," Bill says primly, and that's bullshit because Bill has been plenty drunk plenty of times and Mike's never cut him off.

Mike flips him off and tries not to notice the way it makes Kevin practically flinch.

Bill passes a pitcher down. "Have some of this instead." The pitcher's three-quarters full of orange soda. No one drinks orange soda. But it's better than water, so Mike sucks down the last of the water in his glass and refills it with soda. And, actually the soda tastes really good. It would be perfect with a bendy straw. Fuck, they've been hanging out with these kids for too long.

"Hey, Bill," Jon says, "you gonna spring for cookies?" Because of course Bill found them a pizza place that also sells pizza-sized cookies.

"We'll get the cookies," Joe says. He takes Nick with him, which means Mike can finally stretch his legs out under the table. Unfortunately, it also means he's pretty much alone with Kevin at his end of the table, and Bill's making what he probably thinks is a subtle face of encouragement.

Mike doesn't need encouragement. Mike can make his own moves. No, wait. Mike doesn't need encouragement because he doesn't want to make a move on a _Jonas Brother_. Even if that Jonas Brother is surprisingly comfortable to lean on.

Mike might still be a little bit drunk.

"Were you at a party?" Kevin asks. "Before you came here?"

Mike stares at him. It's Halloween where else would he have been? Sadly, having his legs stretched out toward the other side of the booth means they're in Bill's kicking range. It hurts, and the fucker better not have left dirt or bruises on Mike's leg.

"Yes," he answers, and then, because he's pretty sure he can't talk about the party without saying it, "fucking Pete."

Kevin looks a little less scandalized than he did about Mike flipping Bill off. If Mike had to, he'd guess the rest of the table hasn't been censoring their language just because there are Disney stars around.

"We sort of had a family party," Kevin says, "but mostly we took Frankie - he's our younger brother, he's asleep by now, which is why we didn't bring him with us - trick-or-treating."

Mike doesn't want to know, really doesn't, but he finds himself asking, "Was he Danny Zuko?"

Kevin grins at him, broad and bright. "No. He refused to go along with Joe's plan and got to go as a pirate." Kevin frowns. "I wanted to be a zebra."

Oh, God. Mike's being hit on by a Jonas Brother whose idea of a good Halloween costume is a vegetarian zoo animal.

*

Joe and Nick come back with two of the biggest cookies Kevin has ever seen. Each one of them takes up a whole pizza pan. Tray? Whatever those things are that pizzas are served on when you eat at the pizza place.

In the shuffling that happens to get them back into their seats and cookie slices distributed, Mike somehow ends up pressed even closer to him. Kevin wonders if he can ask for her number.

They each get slices of both kinds of cookies - one chocolate chip, one sugar with lots of frosting. The frosting catches on Mike's lips, replacing the lipstick or gloss that was already mostly coming off, at least until she licks it off.

Kevin almost forgets how to chew.

He looks away hurriedly and finds Bill watching him. "Give me your phone," Bill says, his hand held out in command.

Kevin pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it over. Bill spends too much time with it to be putting in just his number, and Mike says, "You suck," which Kevin hopes means Bill is giving him her number too.

He must be, because he hits something else, and then frowns at Mike. "Where's your phone?"

"This fucking skirt doesn't have pockets." When Kevin turns to look, Mike looks both annoyed and faintly embarrassed. "All I have is my key and a twenty tucked into this fucking bra. I don't know how girls do this."

Kevin can vaguely hear someone saying, "They carry purses," and Joe saying, "Kevin carries a purse" - thanks a lot, Joe - but mostly he's just staring at Mike. Mike who does not have a weird name for a girl because Mike is not actually a girl. Which doesn't actually make him any less pretty - Or should it be hot? Can you call a guy pretty? - or his warmth against Kevin's side feel any less amazing.

Mike says, "What?" and Kevin realizes his staring has passed over into rude.

Kevin smiles at him automatically. "Nothing."

Mike hunches in on himself a little and says, "I need a fucking cigarette." He leans forward, away from and looking around Kevin. "One of you fuckers has to have a cigarette."

There are a lot of headshakes.

"Urie, man, come on," Mike says.

Robin - Brendon, Kevin thought, but maybe Urie is some kind of nickname - shakes his head and says, "Spencer wouldn't let me put any in his utility belt."

Kevin wonders why he didn't just carry them in his own utility belt, but even having known him for only an hour or so, he thinks it's probably better not to ask.

"Fuck." Mike thumps his head down onto the table. Kevin catches the plate with the rest of his cookie on it and pulls it away before Mike can get frosting in his hair.

Bill's arm reaches out - he's really, really tall, but even this seems excessive - and he pats Mike's head. "I'm afraid it's time for us to take our leave. He's only going to get crankier, and he refuses to buy cigarettes in California."

There's a whole bunch of chaos while everyone takes last bites of food or sips of drinks and Nick and Joe insist on putting the tables back where they were with the dubious assistance of the Batman contingent.

Mike's not stumbling anymore, which means Kevin doesn't have an excuse to touch him. He hovers just behind Mike on the way out anyway. Just in case. He's watching close enough that he sees Mike shiver when they get outside. His outfit is probably not very warm.

Kevin shrugs out of his jacket and takes two steps so he's next to Mike instead of behind him. "Here."

Mike stops moving and turns to stare at him.

Kevin holds out his jacket. "It's cold." He doesn't have enough experience to be smooth about loaning a girl his coat, but Mike's not really a girl, so maybe it doesn't matter.

Mike peers at him suspiciously, but he takes Kevin's jacket from him, pulls it on, and zips it up.

Kevin feels like he could be the guy in the movie giving the girl his letterman's jacket. The T-Birds' leather jackets are pretty much the same thing.

When a couple of cabs pull up, Bill comes over to tuck his hand through Mike's elbow. "We'll call you," he tosses over his shoulder as he guides Mike into one of the cabs.

Kevin watches until the cab turns the corner, but Mike doesn't look back at him. And now he's the one who's too cold without a jacket.

"I had these custom made," Joe complains when Kevin turns back to his brothers.

Nick shakes his head. "You're both idiots. Mike or Bill will call tomorrow, so you," he points at Kevin, "will get to see Mike again and you," he points at Joe, "will get your matching jacket back."

*

Mike wakes up with his phone ringing insistently. Usually, he's pretty good about turning it off at night, even when he's plastered, but apparently not having it actually on him last night meant he forgot.

He picks it up and thumbs the button to accept the call without looking to see who it is. "What the fuck?"

"Mike!" Bill always sounds way too cheerful the morning after a good party. "Get out of bed, take a shower, and meet us for breakfast. After that, we'll go find your new paramour and return his jacket."

Mike buries his head in his pillow and turns off his phone by feel.

Bill is a persistent fucker, though, so there's a really loud banging on his door before Mike can fall asleep again. He swears at Bill all the way to the door.

"Fuck off," he says, when he opens the door. It's not going to work, but he does it anyway.

"Nonsense," Bill says, and he tugs Butcher, Chiz, and Sisky in with him.

It's Butcher who looks him up and down and says, "You look like you should be doing a walk of shame."

Mike flips him off and locks himself in the bathroom. He is. not at his best. He managed to get out of the bra before he went to bed, but he's still wearing the panties. At least he'd managed to talk Bill out of the lace. He didn't get the makeup off either, and it's smeared in the night. He would not look out of place doing a walk of shame.

A shower doesn't actually make him feel that much better - it's probably going to take at least a couple of hours of sleep to do that - but at least he no longer looks like he spent the night in the remains of his Halloween costume.

He ignores his supposed friends' comments about his legs while he gets dressed, and then scowls at them until they tumble out of his room and downstairs for breakfast.

He mainlines coffee and eggs and bacon and figures it's too much to hope that Bill will give it up.

"His number's in your phone," Bill says.

"Because you put it there." Mike stuffs the last piece of bacon in his mouth, hoping for a chance to finish it before Bill tries to make him do something stupid. Something else stupid, anyway.

"Only so you could call him. You were awfully cozy."

"I was drunk and it was cold." Mike's sliding into sulky. He hates that. "I would have cuddled up to Gabe."

Jackpot.

"You would not." William points at him. "He would never. _I_ am Gabe's snugglebud." Then he stops, sits back in his chair, and crosses his arms over his chest. "This is not about Gabe. This is about you and Kevin Jonas." He points again, less accusing and more, well, pointed. "Call him."

"I'm not calling him." Mike can be stubborn too.

He only realizes the problem with this when Bill pulls out his phone. Shit. He probably put Kevin's number into his phone too.

In about ninety seconds, Bill's going to insist he talk to Kevin too. Mike heads back to the buffet and hangs around getting tiny bits of everything until Bill hangs up the phone and points at him again.

"Eat quickly," Bill tells him. "We're going to visit your young man, and you still have to go up and get his jacket from your room."

Mike plans to go up and not come back. Bill anticipates him, though, and sends Chiz with him. Bastard. Bill, not Chiz. Although the fact that Chiz is helping him makes him kind of a bastard too. At least Chiz doesn't pester him in the elevator.

Mike could really go for a drink. Bill's at the wheel of the car, though, on the way to wherever it is the Jonases live - and, oh, fuck, he's going to visit the fucking _Jonas Brother_ who hit on him while he was in a skirt - and when Bill's on a mission, there are no detours for alcohol. No matter how much Mike thinks it would make this a better morning. He should've ordered something with breakfast.

Some kid answers the door, and not a kid like the Jonas Brothers, but an actual kid. He stares up at them, and Bill stares down at him.

"Is Kevin in?" Bill asks.

The kid yells, "Kevin! Your friends are here!" without taking his eyes off of Bill, and then he turns around and disappears into the house, leaving them on the porch and the door wide open.

"Frankie, manners," Kevin calls after him, and then he practically beams right at Mike. "Come in," he invites, and Bill starts right into the house, thwarting Mike's plan to hand over the jacket and get out of there.

Mike hands him the jacket on the way into the house. "Thanks."

Kevin keeps smiling at him. "You're welcome." And then he leans closer and stage whispers, "I would have let you keep it, but Joe had them custom made and wants to keep the set together."

"I heard that," Joe says from not very much farther into the house.

Kevin makes a face at his brother. "I wanted to be a zebra anyway."

Mike should not be finding this cute. Mike is hardcore. Mike does not find things cute. Well, puppies, but everyone finds puppies cute. And it's a long way from puppies to a Jonas Brother.

"Why a zebra?" Mike finds himself asking as Kevin and Joe lead them through the house. He doesn't know why he asks. It's not like he really cares.

But it makes Kevin's face light up, and no, no, no, Mike is not going to like this guy.

"They have the coolest stripes. Did you know that zebras will stand next to black and white stripes, even if they're painted on a wall?"

Mike does not - _does not_ \- wish he had a cool zebra fact to add to that.

They end up in the dining room where Kevin introduces them all to his parents. His mom is hot.

"Meeting the parents on the second date," Bill murmurs to him. Mike jabs an elbow into his stomach.

*

"We've been working on a new concept for our next tour." Kevin waves at the plans, models, and cost projections spread out over the end of the table away from the muffins left over from breakfast. "Last time we had a stage that moved," he points at the model, "but we don't want to do the same thing all the time.

Mom cuts in to tell them, "Kevin built all the models himself."

Kevin's usually not embarrassed by all the dorky things he does, but he doesn't know very many people like Mike. And Mike is, well, even hotter in his regular clothes than he was in a skirt. There's something about him that says he's comfortable with himself, and maybe a little dangerous.

He's also turning a critical eye on Kevin's cost projections.

"We're lucky if we get a backdrop." And, right, Mike's in a band Kevin hasn't had a chance to google yet. "How much do transportation costs factor into it?"

Kevin sorts through the stack of papers until he can find the relevant line items. "It depends on gas prices, of course."

Mike lets out a low whistle. "Yeah." He hands the papers back to Kevin and pokes at one of the models. Kevin knows everything about the models, so he can tell that as indelicate as it looks, Mike's not actually doing anything that could damage them.

"Joe says you're a musician, too," Mom says to Mike, which means Joe's said more than just that. Traitor.

"Guitarist," Mike confirms, and he smiles at her. He has a really nice smile that turns his cheeks into curving bookends to his mouth. Kevin wants to Mike smile like that for him.

"And what's the name of your band?" Mom can get away with asking that. Moms aren't supposed to be cool enough to know about bands.

"The Academy Is." Mike shrugs a little. "We're out of Chicago, done a couple of national tours, couple of overseas tours."

Chicago is a long way away. But Kevin's a successful rock star with lots of frequent flier miles. Kevin might also be getting ahead of himself. Just because he thinks Mike is hot doesn't mean Mike's interested in him.

"How long are you in L.A.?" Mom asks.

"Coupla days." Mike pushes his hair back. "We're filming a video, doing some interviews, and then we're heading back home."

Kevin's pretty much staring at Mike, so he sees it when Mike's eyes flicker sideways to look at him. Maybe there's hope.

"I know the best place for milkshakes in all of L.A.," is what comes out of Kevin's mouth. "We should go while you're here."

Bill enters Kevin's field of vision when he drapes an arm around Mike and says, "We have to be going, but Mike's free this evening."

Kevin likes Bill.

*

Mike hates Bill. "Fuck you," he says. "This isn't funny."

"No, no," Bill says. "This is so completely sweet."

Mike turns a glare on him. "A Disney star is coming to pick me up to take me out for a milkshake. This is all your fault."

Bill pats him on the cheek. "I'm just trying to help you out. You liked him, and you haven't been on a date in a while."

"I didn't like him, and I get laid plenty." Mike is dangerously close to pouting. This is what hanging out with Disney people does to people.

"You get laid, but you don't make an actual connection to anyone."

Mike could do without Bill's obsession with pairing people off. Before he can say anything about it, a car pulls to a stop in front of where they're loitering in front of the hotel and Kevin hops out.

"Hi!" He's wearing jeans that cling to his thighs, a button-down that's open at the neck, and an honest to God sweater vest. It's completely ridiculous, and he's pretty much the hottest thing Mike's ever seen.

Mike's wearing a pair of jeans that he's pretty sure got washed before they came out to L.A. and a clean black t-shirt.

"Hi."

Bill pushes him forward, and Mike shoots him a dirty look before getting into the car. Kevin holds the door and closes it behind him.

The car's windows are rolled halfway down, so Mike can hear Bill admonishing Kevin to bring him back at a reasonable hour, and Kevin's answering, "Yes, sir. I have a curfew I don't want to break either."

Mike is not actually a teenage girl and Bill is not his father. He holds his hand out the window and flips Bill off as Kevin pulls away from the curb. It's marginally satisfying.

"So the milkshake place has awesome burgers, too," Kevin says, "but I don't know if you like burgers so if you want, we can get dinner somewhere else."

Mike's mouth waters. It's been a long time since lunch, and Bill keeps making them eat at strange and pretentious places, last night's pizza notwithstanding. "I like burgers." Which is possibly the stupidest possible way to answer that.

"Awesome." Kevin flashes him a smile and turns up the radio as he pulls onto the freeway.

*

Betty's is Kevin's favorite place to eat in all of L.A.. It's a diner that looks like it walked - or was transplanted, since diners can't actually walk - right out of a movie, but it's real, not one of those retro places that's trying too hard. And it has the best milkshakes in all of Southern California. Maybe even the world. Kevin hasn't been everywhere yet.

The vinyl on Kevin's side of the booth is cracked, and their waitress is named Marge. She's been Kevin's waitress before, and even though she calls him "hon," he's pretty sure she doesn't actually recognize him.

Kevin knows what he's going to order, so he scopes out the other people in the place while Mike looks at the menu. There's a family halfway across the room with a couple of kids sharing crayons and laughing, and a group of teenagers who seem to be on a date of some sort. There's a guy at the counter reading a newspaper, and another one staring down into a coffee cup.

He looks back at Mike to find Mike has put down his menu and is watching him. Kevin's smile feels awkward, and he grasps for something to say.

Mike beats him to it. "Nice place."

"Totally," Kevin agrees. "And I was serious about the milkshakes. Amazing."

Marge comes back then to take their order. Kevin gets a cheeseburger, fries, and a strawberry milkshake. Mike orders the bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a cherry chocolate chip milkshake.

"So," Kevin says, and he doesn't really have anything to follow it up with.

"So," Mike repeats. He could be just smiling or he could be laughing at Kevin. Like, on the inside.

"Why were you a girl?" Kevin blurts out. He's been wondering ever since he woke up and remembered the night before.

Mike grimaces. "Fucking Pete."

Kevin remembers hearing him say that last night.

"You know who Pete Wentz is, right?"

Kevin nods. "We met him on some MTV thing once."

"Okay, right." Mike runs his hand through his hair. "Pete had a Halloween party for a bunch of us who know each other," Mike waves his hand around, "toured together, on his label, whatever, and he assigned costumes."

"You were a girl because someone else told you to be?"

"You didn't get to be what you wanted either," Mike says.

Kevin beams at him. It's probably meant to be an insult, but it means Mike remembers. "Joe's kind of a force of nature that way."

"Pete too." Mike smiles at him.

Marge brings their milkshakes, and Kevin takes a spoon to the whipped cream on the top of his. His hand shakes and the spoon clatters against his teeth when Mike actually _moans_.

"You were not kidding about the milkshakes."

Kevin stares for a little too long, because his brain is stuck on the wholly inappropriate thought that this must be what Mike looks like when he's having sex.

"No," Kevin finally says. "Best in L.A."

*

Mike's surprised by how much fun he has. Kevin's actually knowledgeable about guitar, even if his musical taste could use some work, and he has some good tour stories, even if the Jonas Brothers' idea of wild and crazy is pretty tame. The burgers are good, and the milkshakes really are the best he's had in a damn long time. They share - "split," Kevin insists - a banana split for dessert.

Mike's reluctant to say goodbye when Kevin brings him back to the hotel, and Kevin seems to be on the same page. He turns off the car but doesn't seem in a hurry to leave.

"This was great," Kevin says. "Thanks for coming with me." He grins a little. "I love a good excuse to eat junk food."

"Disney doesn't let you eat junk food?"

"Disney doesn't care as long as I'm not caught drinking. It's Nick and Mom who don't like the junk food."

Mike leans back against the door and looks at Kevin. "Aren't you the oldest brother?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Why do you let your brothers boss you around?"

"Nick's the reason we are where we are today, and Joe's obnoxious when he doesn't get his way." Kevin shrugs. "It's easier to just let them have their way. Besides, they listen to me on the things I know about."

Mike shakes his head. "I could never do that. Bill and I fight all the time."

"But you went along with Pete's costume assignment."

Mike grimaces. "That's different. It's Pete. I think the only person who argues with Pete is Patrick."

Kevin grins. "That sounds like Nick and Joe." Something beeps, and Kevin looks down at his watch, and then frowns. "Shoot," he says. Mike refuses to find it cute. "I have to go. I wasn't kidding about having a curfew." He smiles a little sheepishly. "That one's all Mom and Dad. Living under their roof and all that."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I should go too." Mike tries and doesn't quite succeed at smiling. "Stuff to do tomorrow."

"Yeah." Kevin doesn't quite smile either. He pushes open his door, so Mike opens his too and gets out of the car. Kevin comes around to his side and closes Mike's door behind him. "So," he says.

"So," Mike says.

Kevin really does smile at him this time. "This was awesome."

Mike smiles back. "Yeah," he agrees. "Thanks for dinner."

"Thank you." Kevin ducks in and hugs Mike. It's not one of those hugs where people just kind of pat you on the back and then step away. It's the real thing, where Kevin has both arms solid around him and hangs on, and Mike doesn't know very many people who hug like this, so after a moment where he's confused, he hugs back. He breathes deeply, just because he needs to breathe, and if it brings in the smell of Kevin's shampoo and cologne, that's just incidental.

"We should totally keep in touch," Kevin says when he lets go after what seems like forever and no time at all. "Bill called you from my phone last night so you have my number, and I have yours."

"Yeah," Mike says, and he can't help smiling because it's really pretty adorable the way Kevin's so earnest about it. "I remember."

They stand there smiling at each other for a little while longer.

"So," Kevin says, "I guess I should go." He pulls his keys out of his pocket and does this ridiculous sort of half wave with them.

"I guess so. Thanks again." Mike forces himself to start walking toward the hotel doors. He doesn't let himself turn and look until he's inside the lobby. Kevin waves at him from the car, and Mike watches his tail lights as they pull out of the parking lot. Then he turns around and walks to the elevator.

*

"Hey, I forgot to ask, how was your date?" Joe asks three days later.

Kevin doesn't remember being on a date. "What date?"

"With Mike."

Kevin laughs. Date. "It was fun. We went to Betty's and talked about guitar. Mike knows a lot."

"Don't let Nick know you were eating diner food," Joe warns.

"I won't if you won't," Kevin says. Nick is scary when he's mad.

"Deal," Joe agrees. "You gonna call him?"

"Why would I call Nick?"

Joe sighs heavily. It's his I'm so disappointed in you sigh. "Mike," he says. "Are you going to call Mike?"

Oh. Kevin thinks about it. He liked spending time with Mike. He'd like to spend more time with Mike. Mike lives in Chicago. Kevin has frequent flyer miles. "Maybe?"

"You should call him. He seemed to like you."

Kevin perks up. "You think so?" Mike seemed to enjoy hanging out with Kevin at Betty's, but that just might've been the milkshakes.

Joe actually rolls his eyes. "He went out with you."

Kevin frowns. "Bill had to practically shove him in the car."

"Nick!" Joe yells. "Come tell Kevin he's being an idiot!"

Nick would never tell him he's being an idiot. He might think it, and he might gently suggest that perhaps there's something Kevin's missing, but he would never actually tell him that.

"Mom says don't yell in the house," Nick tells Joe when he comes up the stairs to join them.

"Tell Kevin he's being an idiot," Joe demands.

"I'm not doing that," Nick says. Kevin was totally right.

"Then tell him Mike liked him."

Nick stares at both of them. "Of course Mike liked you," he says to Kevin. "He let you take him to dinner. I don't think Mike is the kind of guy who would do that if he didn't want to."

Kevin frowns. Nick wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it, but he didn't have the same conversation with Mike that Kevin did. "Someone else made him dress up as a girl for Halloween. He might've let someone else push him into going out to dinner with me."

"He liked you," Nick says with crushing finality. "Are you going to call him?"

"I don't know," Kevin says. He really wants to, but he doesn't know what the rules are with this. He's never hung out with a guy like Mike before.

Now Nick looks disappointed in him too. "If you want to call him, you should." He glares at Joe. "Can I go back to what I was doing now?"

*

"So," Bill says, drawing it out into the longest syllable Mike has ever heard. "You call Kevin yet?"

Mike doesn't look up from his guitar. Travel always fucks with the tuning, no matter how much it shouldn't. "No."

Bill leans over him with a hand on his shoulder. "You should call him."

Mike shrugs his hand away.

"You liked him," Bill says. "You were so happy when you got back from your date."

Sisky and Butcher wander into the practice space. They both have coffee. Mike wishes he'd thought to stop for some. Maybe Bill would be easier to deal with if he had.

"It wasn't a date," he mutters.

"Oh, Michael," Bill says. "That was a date if I've ever seen one. He picked you up and promised to bring you back at a reasonable hour."

Mike finally looks up to glare at Bill. "Yes," he says, "I know. I was there." He's not really sure why they're talking about it now. He had dinner with Kevin - not a date! Just dinner - days ago. They're not even in the same state anymore. "Can we play some music now?"

It works for a while, until they take a break.

"Hey," Sisky asks, "you call that Jonas Brother yet?"

"No," Mike says.

"You should." Sisky smiles. "He's cute, and he was into you."

Mike takes a deep breath and reminds himself that he cannot kill his band. "Dude."

Sisky bumps his shoulder against Mike's. "I'm just saying."

They get back to work and the peace lasts until lunch when Chiz and Mike are hanging out waiting for their sandwiches to be done and Chiz says, "You should call Kevin."

Chiz is his best friend, so Mike's willing to cut him a little slack. "You sound like Bill and Sisky."

"Of course I do," Chiz says. "Think about it, Mike. Who in this band has a stable relationship?" The guy behind the counter calls Chiz's name, and he steps away to get his sandwich.

Chiz is his best friend, so Mike does think about it. For a minute. Until his sandwich is ready. Kevin did not take him on a date. No matter how much fun he had hanging out with Kevin, it's not a relationship.

When they're ready to call it a day, Bill plants himself in front of Mike and doesn't let him leave. "This is an intervention," he says. "You need to call Kevin."

"Back off."

"No." Bill points at him. "You liked him. He liked you. This could be something."

Mike makes a note to tell Christine to stop letting Bill watch Lifetime. "Bill," he says, "it's not going to be anything."

Unfortunately for him, Bill is infuriatingly stubborn. "Is this because he's a guy? Because you know none of us care." He waves at Butcher, Chiz, and Sisky, and if Mike doesn't want to be having this conversation, he really doesn't want to be having it with all of them as witnesses. He should probably be glad they're not working with anyone else today.

"Bill," Mike warns.

"We've never cared." Bill grips Mike by the upper arms. "All these years, we've never cared."

Mike really wishes he'd escaped Bill. "I've slept with a lot of women," he says.

"But you've never liked any of them," Bill says very, very gently. Bill is not actually wrong about that.

If Mike can't get out of talking about this, he might as well really talk about it. "I've never liked any of the guys I've slept with either." He doesn't count Pete because he never actually slept with Pete.

"That's not true," Bill says, "but it doesn't matter. You like Kevin."

Mike twists out of Bill's grip. "I didn't sleep with Kevin." If he can get Bill to take two steps to either side, he can get out of here.

Sisky chokes on a cut-off laugh. "Kid wears a _purity ring_ ," he says. "Of course you didn't."

"Adam," Bill says, "you're not helping."

"Neither are you," Sisky says.

Bill slides sideways just a little, and Mike can see his escape route opening up.

"I'm merely pointing out," Bill says, "that we already know Mike likes guys, and we're okay with it." He keeps talking, but he's moved out of the way, so Mike ducks around him and out the door.

He can hear Chiz calling out, "Just call him," behind him, but he keeps going straight to his car.

He blasts music on the way home and then flops down on the couch with a beer and the TV remote, happy to be away from his band. He loves them, but _Jesus Christ_ are they a pain in his ass sometimes.

He watches a _Simpsons_ reurn and then channel surfs. He finds himself stopping on the National Geographic Channel where a soothing voice tells him that zebras are equids, which means they're related to horses.

There's a lot of zebra footage, more than Mike has ever seen in his life. When it cuts to a commercial, he learns that he's watching _Animals of Africa: Zebras_.

And fuck his band, because he gets out his phone and scrolls down to Kevin's number. _watching a show about zebras on national geographic channel,_ he types in. _looks cool when they're running_

He's learning about the zebra's natural enemies when Kevin texts him back. _Is that part of the Animals of Africa series? I had to battle Joe for space on the TiVo to record it._

 _y,_ Mike sends. _lions just killed one of them_

 _That always looks cool because lions are so powerful, but I'm sad for the zebras who get eaten._

Okay, Mike admits to himself, Kevin Jonas is pretty darn cute.

*

"Sorry, sorry," Kevin apologizes when he flubs another take by grinning when he's not supposed to.

"Dude," Joe says, "what's up with you today?"

"Sorry," Kevin says again. He shakes himself out and says, "Okay. Let's do this."

This time he keeps his grin inside until they get through the take and the director calls, "Cut!" and sends them home for the day.

"Seriously," Joe says on the way to their dressing room, "what's up with you? You were fine until this afternoon."

"Nothing's up." Kevin's pretty sure his smile proves that's a lie.

"You've been humming 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' all afternoon," Nick says. He wasn't in the last scene, so he's already in his own clothes playing guitar on their dressing room couch. "Our next album is not going to have a jungle theme."

So maybe Kevin has been humming that all afternoon. "Lions don't actually live in the jungle."

"Fine," Nick says, "then our next album isn't going to have a savanna theme." He puts his guitar down and comes out into the hall where he looks Kevin up and down. "What?"

"What what?" Kevin asks.

"See?" Joe waves his arms around like he's making a point. Kevin doesn't know what kind of point that could be.

"Yes," Nick says. He crosses his arms over his chest and turns a serious look on Kevin. "What happened today that made you grin like that?"

Kevin tries to tone it down. He's not sure it works. "Nothing."

"You're lying," Nick says flatly. "What happened?"

Kevin caves. "Mike texted me about watching zebras on _Animals of Africa_."

Joe reaches up for a high five, and Kevin returns it without stopping to think about it.

"Awesome," Joe says. "I told you he liked you."

Nick rolls his eyes. "Of course he liked you. Would you two get changed so we can go home?"

Joe grabs at Nick and makes a mess of his hair before taking off down the hall toward his dressing room. Nick makes a face and tries to smooth it down with his hands. Kevin goes to his dressing room so he doesn't get blamed for it.

He can't stop grinning, and it makes him grin even more every time he catches sight of himself in the mirror.

He keeps grinning in the car home, and he's the oldest, so when he gets home, he gets to tell Frankie to get off the Wii and let him have the TV so he can watch _Animals of Africa_. The zebras do look cool running, and he cringes when the lions take down one of them.

He pauses the show and texts Mike: _Watching Animals of Africa. Lions killing a zebra. :(((((_

He hits play and watches until his phone buzzes, when he pauses it again.

 _circle of life,_ the text from Mike says.

It's not very comforting, but after the episode is over, he convinces the whole family to have movie night and watch _The Lion King_ and sing along with all the songs.

He surreptitiously texts Mike: _It moves us all through despair and hope, through faith and love, 'til we find our place on the path unwinding in the circle, the circle of life._

Mike texts back, _you really do belong to disney_

*

Mike's phone rings. He glances down at the display and grins. "Hey."

"Hi," Kevin says. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Lunch break," Mike says. "Finally. Bill's on a tear today." Then he frowns. "Hey, what are you doing calling me if you think I'm not going to answer?"

Kevin's laugh, half chuckle, half giggle, makes Mike smile again.

"I just saw the most amazing guitar. I was going to leave you a message if you didn't answer."

The sandwich guy calls Mike's name, and he steps forward to get his sandwich. "Okay, so what was so amazing about this guitar?"

Kevin giggles again. "It was covered, _completely_ covered in those fake plastic jewel things. All kinds of colors and shapes."

"You didn't buy it, did you?" Mike slides into the only empty chair at their table. The rest of his band has shoved two small tables together, and it leaves Mike sitting in the aisle with barely enough space for his sandwich and his drink on the table. His band can be dicks sometimes.

"No, but Joe threatened to buy it for Nick for Christmas."

Mike grins. "I'll bet Nick loved that." Over the last two weeks, he's talked and texted with Kevin enough to know what his brothers are like.

"He threatened to disown Joe and throw him out of the band." Kevin's laughing as he says it. "And then Joe said he was just trying to keep it real."

Now Mike laughs. "I don't think Joe understands the meaning of the phrase." He pulls a dangling piece of turkey out of his sandwich and pops it into his mouth.

"I don't think Joe understands a lot of things," Kevin says, and then he hurries to add, "but he's my brother and I love him anyway."

"You're too nice," Mike teases. The rest of his band is halfway through their sandwiches. They're dicks, so he might not get to eat here. They might make him eat on the walk back.

"It's all the clean living," Kevin says with an aw-shucks country twang. Mike can just about picture the smile that goes with it. "But, hey, I should let you go so you can eat your lunch."

"Yeah, I guess." On the one hand, Mike's hungry. On the other hand, it's Kevin.

"I'll call you later," Kevin promises. "You can tell me about Bill on a tear and I'll tell you about Nick making us redo things eighty times until it's perfect."

"Sounds good," Mike says. "Bye." He waits for Kevin's goodbye, and then clicks his phone off.

"So," Bill drawls, "you and Kevin."

Mike resists the urge to roll his eyes and takes a bite of his sandwich instead.

"That sounded like a pretty familiar conversation." Trust Bill not to give up.

"Kevin spends most of his time with his brothers. I've heard about them a lot." That's maybe a tactical error, because Bill's eyes practically gleam with interest.

"So you've talked to him a lot."

Mike's band is a bunch of dicks. None of them look like they're going to help him out, and Mike just wants to eat his sandwich. "Some."

"Just to clarify," The Butcher asks, "are you or are you not phone dating a Jonas brother?"

Mike doesn't actually know the answer to that question. Kevin's hot, fun to talk to, and surprisingly sharp about the real world. But he's also friendly, and Mike's not sure how much of what they have is Kevin's general outgoing nature and how much of it is the kind of interest Mike has in him. He takes another bite of his sandwich instead of trying to explain anything of the sort.

Sisky manages to drop a chip into The Butcher's drink, which both distracts them from the conversation about Kevin, and keeps them busy long enough for Mike to finish his sandwich.

On the walk back, Chiz bumps his shoulder against Mike's and says, "Glad you finally listened to us."

*

While Big Rob is fussing about the security nightmare, and Dad is trying to use the Jonas name to get them seats together, Kevin wanders a little way away from the family, pulls out his phone and scrolls down to Mike's name.

Mike answers with his customary, "Hey."

"Hi," Kevin says. "I'm going to be in Chicago for five hours this afternoon. Want to have dinner?"

"Yes," Mike says promptly. Then he asks, "Why are you going to be in Chicago for five hours?"

"Thanksgiving is not the time to travel." Kevin turns his back on the busy gate area and looks out the window. "Our original flight got canceled, and they're rebooking us through Chicago."

"Why are you even flying commercial? Aren't you big stars with your own jet?" Mike's teasing tone makes Kevin smile.

"We're suffering on relatability, so Dad thought flying commercial at Thanksgiving would be good PR." Kevin half turns to see how Dad's airline negotiations are going.

"You have such a hard life." Kevin's pretty sure Mike's laughing at him. "What time should I pick you up?"

"Our plane lands at three twenty-seven. We're flying United, but I don't know how O'Hare is set up, so I don't know where I'll be until I get there." Maybe he should have thought about that before he called.

"I'm pretty familiar with O'Hare," Mike says, and he's definitely laughing at Kevin now. "Call me when you land, and I'll meet you in front of baggage claim."

"Awesome." Kevin catches Nick's reflection in the window and turns around to watch his family regrouping. "Hey, I gotta go. I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Looking forward to it."

Kevin beams. "Me too. Bye." After Mike says goodbye and Kevin clicks his phone off, he heads back over to the rest of his family. Dad and Big Rob don't look very happy, so Kevin goes to talk to Mom. Frankie's at her side, but he has his earbuds in and is absorbed in something on his phone.

"I called Mike," Kevin says. "He's going to pick me up for dinner while we're in Chicago." He makes sure to tell her, not ask. Technically, Mom and Dad or Big Rob could overrule him, but he has a better chance of getting his way if he goes in with a plan.

Mom looks at him, and he keeps his most trustworthy look on his face while she asks, "Do you think that's a good idea?"

"I want to see him," Kevin says carefully. "Someone can walk me out to meet him, and meet me out front when we get back."

Mom frowns. Kevin just waits.

"I'll talk to your father," she says.

*

One thing Mike's going to be thankful for on Thursday is that they decided to take the whole week off from working on music, because it means he doesn't have to explain and escape from his band. He knows how weird it is that he's going to meet a Jonas Brother for just a couple of hours.

Kevin's waiting in front of baggage claim with a guy who is clearly part of a security team.

Mike pulls up to the curb and gets out of the car. He can feel his face stretching into a grin. "Kevin!" he calls.

Kevin grins just as wide as he does. The security guy follows him as he comes over to Mike.

"Hey!" Kevin throws his arms around Mike with gleeful abandon. It's a lot to take in all at once, Kevin holding him tight and the smell of Kevin's cologne just the same as Mike remembers. He hugs back.

Kevin pulls back and introduces "Big Rob, one of our security guys."

Big Rob folds his arms across his chest and says, "You bring him back by seven."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Mike glances over at Kevin, who's still smiling, so that must be okay.

Big Rob looks at Mike for an endless moment, then says, "Call if you need me to come get you," to Kevin.

Kevin waves a hand. "It'll be fine." He gets in the car, and Big Rob goes back to the sidewalk. When Mike looks in the rearview mirror, Big Rob is still watching them.

"So I was thinking pizza," Mike says as he navigates his way out of O'Hare. "You ever have Giordano's stuffed pizza?"

"No. Is it something that would get me in trouble with Nick and Mom if I tell them about it?"

Mike grins. "Hell yeah."

Kevin grins back. "Bring it on."

*

This is the best pizza Kevin has ever had. Ever. The toppings are actually baked in between layers of crust, and every time he takes a bite, his mouth _fills_ with cheese.

"You can never tell Nick," he groans. "Never. This is so much worse than diner food."

Mike chuckles. "I promise." He licks sauce off of his lip, which is unfairly distracting. Kevin could watch him do that all day.

He's so distracted by Mike that he doesn't register the purposeful movement toward them until there are two girls who can't be more than fifteen almost to their table.

Kevin knows exactly how to deal with this. He sits up straighter, and swipes his napkin over his mouth to catch any sauce or grease.

The girls walk straight up to Mike.

"Mike?" one of them says, the other one half hiding behind her. "We're sorry to bother you, but would you sign something for us?"

Mike smiles at them. "Yeah, sure." He pulls a Sharpie out of his pocket, and one of the girls has a small notebook in her purse. "So what's your name?" he asks.

He's good at it, interacting with the kids. Kevin probably shouldn't be surprised. Mike's been doing this even longer than Kevin has, if not on the same scale, and Kevin's read enough about The Academy Is... to know their fans are the same teenagers as Kevin's fans, but it's still not what he expected. Of course, what he expected was for the girls to talk to him, so maybe what he expects isn't a particularly good measure of what's going to happen.

One of the girls asks if they can get a picture, too.

"Sure." Mike slides out of the booth, and has the girl hand her iPhone over to Kevin so both girls can be in the picture together. Kevin stands up too, to get the right angle for the picture. He takes two of them, and hands the phone back.

"Thanks," the girl says to Kevin, and then both girls effusively thank Mike.

Kevin is fairly used to fans being more excited about the people he's with than him, but usually the people he's with are his brothers.

Mike nudges his foot against Kevin's. "You didn't expect that."

Kevin's pretty sure Mike's laughing at him again. "No," he admits. "But I guess it makes sense. It's your hometown."

Mike smirks at him. "And unlike zebras, you're less noticeable when separated from the herd."

Kevin's heart flutters a little bit at Mike referencing zebras.

"I guess so." He smiles. "It's kind of nice." He leans toward Mike. "I wasn't sure I'd get to come alone. Big Rob's pretty strict about security these days."

"I guess that's the good thing about not being that famous," Mike says. "Even when we do have security, they're usually just keeping Bill safe." He shrugs. "He's the favorite."

"You're my favorite," Kevin says without thinking about it. He flushes.

Mike ducks his head. "Well, I guess you're my favorite Jonas Brother."

They sort of smile at each other for a minute.

"Okay," Mike says, "best, worst, and weirdest fan encounters."

They trade fan stories, tour stories, and Thanksgiving stories. Their waitress keeps refilling their water glasses, and doesn't seem bothered by their lingering. Even so, they order dessert when the place starts to fill up with the dinner crowd.

Watching Mike eat dessert is quickly becoming one of Kevin's favorite things to do. This time he ordered cannoli, and he keeps licking the filling off his lips.

When it gets late enough that they have to leave, Kevin tries to pick up the check, but Mike won't let him.

"My hometown," he says, "my treat."

Kevin gives in gracefully and is pleased, when he peeks at the charge slip, that Mike leaves a generous tip.

Kevin texts Big Rob when they leave and again as they pull into the bustle of O'Hare. Mike stops the car as close to where Big Rob is waiting in front of the terminal as he can, then gets out of the car with Kevin.

Mike's good at hugs. He doesn't pull away too soon like some people do, and it feels really good to hug him.

"Thanks," Kevin says, "for lunch and hanging out with me and everything."

"Anytime you're in town." Mike grins. "I know lots of places Nick wouldn't approve of."

Kevin grins back. "Awesome. Until next time then."

"Until next time," Mike agrees. He touches Kevin's arm. "I'll call you."

"I'll answer." It's kind of a dumb thing to say, but Mike laughs, and that's a good sound to hold onto as he heads toward Big Rob and back into the airport.

*

Mike called to ask Kevin, "Are you serious?" when he first opened the box that came in the mail and found two wrapped boxes with cheery "Do not open until Christmas!" stickers on them. Kevin had assured him he was completely serious, and the boxes have been sitting in the corner of Mike's living room ever since.

Christmas morning is only more torturous, because Mike knows Kevin's in L.A., which means he's two hours earlier, and since Mike's up around ten, it's probably too early to call. Even if he is pretty sure the Jonases are an early rising family.

Mike's family is not. He doesn't have to be at his parents' until three.

Mike's phone rings just after one. He picks it up with a grin to Kevin's "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas," Mike says.

"I would've called earlier," Kevin says, sounding apologetic, "but we did stockings and breakfast, and then church, and things are pretty crazy around here. Joe and Frankie are begging to open presents even though they know we don't do that until after lunch."

"Wow," Mike says, "and all I've done this morning is have a cup of coffee and watch _It's A Wonderful Life_."

"Oh, man, I haven't seen that in years."

Mike chuckles. "It hasn't changed."

"Angels still get their wings when a bell rings?"

Mike can pretty much see the teasing smile on Kevin's face.

"Yep, but I don't have any bells," Mike teases back.

"We have some on the tree," Kevin tells him, "but if I go out there, this conversation will be over pretty much immediately."

Mike really wants to ask if he can open his presents now, but it seems rude. "Don't go out there," he says instead. "Where are you that's safe?"

"My room. Frankie might come up here, but I can always send him back down to Mom. But," Kevin says, "I brought my present from you up here so you can listen to me unwrap it."

"I can't believe you actually made me wait." Mike gets the boxes and sits down on the couch with them. "You know they've been driving me crazy."

"Waiting just makes opening presents even better."

Kevin says it completely without irony, and Mike considers it for a couple of seconds before he says, "That's what they tell you about sex, too, isn't it?"

Kevin's silent for a long moment. Mike holds his breath.

"That is what they tell us. I guess I'll find out."

Mike exhales. At least it wasn't a complete mistake. Fuck, he's gotten attached to Kevin in the last two months.

"Go on," Kevin says, "since you're so impatient, you can open your presents first. Start with the one in red paper."

Mike cradles his phone between his ear and his shoulder and rips the paper as loudly as he can. There's a nondescript white box under the paper. Mike opens the box and peels back the tissue paper to reveal the ugliest sweater he's ever seen. And that includes anything Bill has ever owned.

"What the fuck?"

Kevin manages to say, "Christmas sweaters are an important tradition," before he starts laughing. It's a nice sound.

Mike glares at the sweater. "Do you actually expect me to wear this?"

Kevin's still laughing as he says, "Don't you want to show your family what your friends got you for Christmas?"

"I don't want them to think my friends all have terrible taste. Bill is bad enough." Mike covers the sweater up with its tissue paper, and then puts the top of the box back on for good measure. "Can I open the other one now?"

Kevin chuckles. "Yes. You'll like it better."

"I hope so," Mike mutters. "You didn't get me a matching scarf and mittens, did you?" He puts the sweater box on the floor and tugs the other, heavier package onto his lap.

"No. Maybe for New Year's," Kevin muses.

"Please don't." Mike tears the paper on the second package. It's also a box, with a logo on it. Mike doesn't quite believe it until he opens the box. "Holy shit." They're boots. _Amazing_ boots. Black, lace-up, and his size.

"Do they fit?" Kevin sounds almost as excited about them as Mike feels.

"Dude," Mike says, "let me put them on." He pulls them out of the box and starts lacing them up. "Why do shoes never come laced?"

"I don't know. Because it costs them less to make us do it?"

"That must be it." Mike pulls the boots on, tightens and ties the laces, and stands up. "Man, these are awesome." He walks across the living room, into the kitchen, and back to the couch. "They fit perfectly. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." Kevin sounds pleased. "I want you to know that I managed to pick them out all by myself. I didn't even need Joe or Nick's help to find you something suitably badass."

"I'm very proud." Mike leans his elbows on his knees so he can keep looking at his boots while he talks. "Your turn."

"This is so beautifully wrapped," Kevin says, "it almost seems a shame to ruin it."

Mike rolls his eyes even though Kevin can't see him. "Just open it. That's what you're supposed to do with Christmas presents."

"Okay, okay. I'm opening it already!"

Mike can't even hear the rustle of the paper. "Are you one of those people who peels the tape back?"

"It's so pretty!"

Mike sighs. "You're supposed to tear the paper. It's the best part about opening presents."

"Even Frankie doesn't do that," Kevin says. Mike can hear the paper tearing now. "Your Christmas must be totally different."

Mike grins. "I'll bet. Chaos and booze instead of church and wholesomeness."

"Oh!" Kevin practically squeals. "It's so adorable!"

Mike knows what he's looking at: the cutest stuffed zebra online shopping could provide, with a cheerful red ribbon tied around its neck. He smiles at the phone. "I thought since you couldn't be one for Halloween."

"Now I can have one," Kevin finishes. "I'm taking this on tour with me."

Mike can't hear the rustle of tissue paper as Kevin takes the other part of his gift out of the box, but he can imagine it.

"Mike," he says softly, "thank you. This is perfect."

The other part of his present is a carefully framed certificate declaring him a friend of the zebra and memorializing a donation given in his name for zebra conservation.

"I thought it was your kind of thing."

"It totally, totally is," Kevin says. "Nothing anyone else got me is going to measure up to this. And Joe's been dropping hints about how he got us all the best presents ever this year."

"I'd be a pretty sorry excuse for a man if I couldn't outshop Joe."

Kevin sighs with completely fake resignation. "And he's the cool one."

"Yeah, right," Mike snorts. "Bonus is the cool one. The three of you are just playing catch-up."

"Ouch," Kevin says, cheerfully enough that Mike knows he doesn't mean it. "Maybe you want to talk to him then."

"Nah," Mike says. "I knew you weren't cool from the beginning."

"Ooh, ouch again," Kevin says. "I don't know why I talk to you. You're bad for my ego."

"You talk to me because having friends like me is the only thing keeping you at all cool."

"Millions of teenage girls would disagree with you."

"Kevin," another voice Mike recognizes as Frankie's says in the background before Mike can respond, "Mom says it's time to come down for lunch."

"I'll be there in a minute," Kevin says to Frankie, and then to Mike, "I have to go."

"Yeah," Mike says. "Tell your family I said Merry Christmas."

"I will. And same to yours, and your band. And you. And thank you."

Mike laughs a little at Kevin's attempt to include everyone. "Merry Christmas, Kevin."

"Merry Christmas, Mike."

Three minutes after Mike hangs up, his phone buzzes with a message. It's a picture of Kevin smiling with the stuffed zebra cuddled under his chin. Mike not only saves it, he makes it his phone's background, replacing a picture of Kevin smiling with a ridiculous paper crown on his head.

Then he opens the sweater box again and replaces his hoodie with the sweater. He takes a picture of himself in the full-length mirror on the back of his closet door so it includes the sweater and the boots, and then he sends it to Kevin.

*

Kevin knows how New Year's Eve at Times Square goes. It's totally awesome that they get to be there, and he's totally excited that they get to do it again. Totally. Except for the part where he knows how it goes and he knows there's no way they're getting out of there until twelve-thirty at the earliest, and with the way traffic is, they don't get back to the hotel until after one.

Kevin calls Mike as soon as he's in his room. He could have called from the car, but he didn't really want his whole family plus the entourage they travel with these days listening in.

"Kevin!" Kevin can tell Mike's been drinking by the way his voice drags over the "v" in his name. "I wish you were here. I had to watch the fireworks by myself."

Kevin's stomach has been tight with something he refuses to name all night, but now it loosens. "All by yourself?" He can hear the party going on around Mike. "It doesn't sound like that."

"There are people here," Mike says, and Kevin can imagine him waving his hand around, "but none of them are you."

Kevin wants to be where Mike is so much it's almost a physical ache.

"None of the people I spent New Year's Eve with were you either," Kevin says. "We were at Times Square. There were a _lot_ of people who weren't you."

"Was it fun?" Mike asks.

"Performing is always fun," Kevin tells him. He takes off his boots and sits down on the bed. "Did you have fun?"

"I'm at this party," Mike says. "Bill made me come." There's the sound of a door opening and closing, and then the background noise cuts off. "Did I tell you I'm quitting smoking? I am. But now. Not earlier. It was really cold outside."

Kevin scoots toward the head of the bed and tucks a couple of the pillows between his back and the headboard. "You're quitting smoking because it was cold outside?"

"No," Mike says, drawing out the "o." "I'm quitting smoking because you're a bad influence and Bill told us we should all make New Year's resolutions."

"You know," Kevin muses, "you're a lot more cheerful than you were on Halloween."

"I was at lot drunker on Halloween. And I was wearing a skirt." Like Kevin doesn't know that. "Fucking Pete."

Kevin laughs. "If you hadn't been wearing the skirt, you might never have met me."

Mike hmms. "Guess that's true. I'm glad I met you. I wish you were here."

Kevin slides down the bed a little and tucks his arm behind his head. "You said that."

"Still true," Mike says. "I'm wearing my boots. Bill's jealous. He saw the sweater. He was jealous of that too, but I wouldn't give it to him because you gave it to me."

Kevin's starting to think that a slightly drunk Mike is the best thing in the world. "Does that mean you appreciate it a little more?"

"Fuck no," Mike says. "It's still the ugliest fucking sweater I've ever seen."

Kevin bursts out laughing. "Yeah," he admits, "it's an ugly sweater. That's half the fun."

"You Jonases have weird ideas about fun. Hey, you know what would be fun?"

"What?" Kevin asks.

"You should come to a show. We're going to be in L.A. in a couple of weeks. I can put you on the list. And your brothers."

Kevin already knows they're going to be in L.A. He's keeping up to date with TAI's concert schedule on their MySpace, and he put their L.A. date on his calendar and told Dad and Nick they couldn't schedule anything for that evening.

"Just me," Kevin says. "Unless I'm not cool enough."

"You're kind of not," Mike says. "But it's probably past Frankie's bedtime anyway."

"Probably. Although he does get to stay up for our shows most of the time. Hey, think you can get me backstage?"

Mike laughs. "Yeah, you're coming backstage. Like I'm gonna let you get mobbed by the crowd. You're coming to see me, not them." Mike practically growls the last bit, and Kevin shivers. Slightly drunk Mike is definitely the best thing in the world.

Kevin also yawns. It's late, and he's been up for way too many hours. "Shoot, Mike, I think I need to go to bed."

"If I were there I'd tuck you in," Mike answers promptly.

Kevin's grin feels like it's going to split his face. "Maybe another time. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Kevin. You're my favorite thing from this year."

Kevin's heart skips a beat. "Yeah," he says. "You're my favorite too."

*

"Sit down," Bill says. "You're making me nervous."

Mike wipes his hands on his jeans. "You never get nervous."

"No, but I am now." Bill kicks out toward him. "Sit down. He'll be here soon."

Mike sits down. Shows go better when Bill's not mad at him.

Two minutes later, Bill's hand presses down on his knee. "I didn't want you to sit down so you could fidget on the couch."

"We should have smoked up earlier," Sisky says.

"I don't think Kevin would like it if I were high the first time he comes to see me play."

Bill actually ruffles his hair. "Your young man has had such a positive influence on you."

Mike swats Bill's hand away. The door opens before he can do anything else about Bill.

"Visitor for you." Tony comes in grinning. He can be a dick just like Mike's band. Mike doesn't bother flipping him off because Kevin's right behind him.

Mike gets up from the couch and wishes there weren't quite so many people here for this. It doesn't stop him from meeting Kevin in the middle of the room with the tightest hug he can give. Kevin hugs him back so hard Mike can feel the way his shirt pulls against him because Kevin's gripping handfuls of it. Mike doesn't want to let go. He does anyway, and he and Kevin are both grinning like loons.

"You're here," Mike says.

"I'm here," Kevin agrees. "And I didn't even bring any of my brothers."

Bill coughs ostentatiously.

Mike turns so he's standing next to Kevin instead of in front of him. "You remember the rest of my band."

"Sure," Kevin says. He gives a little wave. "Hi."

"Kevin," Bill says, "you're all Mike can talk about." Bill's such a dick.

"You wanna go watch the openers?" Mike asks Kevin.

"Smooth," Sisky says. Mike ignores him.

"Sure," Kevin says.

Mike holds the door for him. They walk side by side, close enough that their shoulders brush, down the hall toward the stage. It's still the first opener, so there aren't many people hanging out side stage yet. Mike judges the eyeline of the crowd and finds a space where they can see the band but not the audience - which means the audience can't see them either.

They stand shoulder to shoulder. Kevin nudges Mike with an elbow or shoulder every time the band does something he likes. There's something so casually intimate about it that Mike's heart beats faster.

When the last of the openers gets to the end of their set, Mike turns to Kevin and says, "Stay here. I have to go." He waves his hand down the hallway.

"Pre-show stuff," Kevin says. "I got it." He beams at Mike. "Break a leg."

Mike goes back to his band and they go through all their pre-show rituals. On their way onto the stage, Kevin catches his eye and gives him a thumbs up. Mike grins at him and heads out to play.

Mike plays hard. He always plays hard, but he puts some extra effort into it because he knows there's someone there to see him. Bill spends a fair amount of time on Mike's side of the stage, leaning against him.

Mike's not so stupid he doesn't know what Bill's doing, but sometimes he wishes Bill wouldn't help.

He sucks down a couple of bottles of water during their set, and comes off stage sweating like a pig.

Kevin comes toward him grinning and with his arms out. "You kicked butt out there."

"Thanks." Mike ducks away from his hug. "You don't want to hug me. I'm all sweaty."

Kevin actually rolls his eyes at him. "Like I don't know anything about that."

Mike wants to hug Kevin, but he doesn't want to get Kevin all gross and sweaty. At least not like this. Actually, thinking about that just after he got off stage is probably not a good idea.

"I already called first shower," he tells Kevin. "Give me five minutes and then you can hug me all you want."

Bill slides between them and takes Kevin's arm. "Come on. We'll tell you everything about Mike he won't tell you himself."

The rest of Mike's band are such dicks. He flips them off and rushes through his shower.

*

For some reason - a reason Kevin suspects might actually have something to do with him - Bill has a giant folder of pictures of, as he'd declared grandly, "Mike Through The Ages" on his iPhone. He's not kidding about the "Through The Ages" part. He actually has baby pictures in there.

They're just getting to the early days of the band - and Kevin recognizes one or two of those pictures from the internet - when Mike gets out of the shower. He's buttoning his jeans as he comes out, and he's not wearing a shirt.

Kevin stops paying attention to Bill.

He watches the flex of Mike's muscles as he bends over his bag and pulls on a shirt. He doesn't even blink again until Mike's chest is covered up.

"All right," Mike says, his arms spreading out to either side. "Come hug me now."

Kevin lurches off the couch and manages not to fall all over his feet on his way to Mike. And then he's hugging Mike like he wanted to when he got off stage, whole body pressed against Mike, grinning into his neck, and Mike holding on just as tight. Mike never tries to weasel out of Kevin's hugs, as few of them as there have been. Mike smells really good, clean and freshly washed.

"You were amazing," Kevin says. "Just really, really good." He pulls back just enough so he can see Mike's face. "And the crowd loved it. That was so cool."

"Thanks," Mike says. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Kevin hugs him tight again. "It's all true."

He can't hug Mike forever, no matter how much he wants to, so Kevin lets go and steps back. Mike's hands slide slowly off of his back; Kevin's slide away from Mike just as slowly.

Mike bends over his bag again and brings socks and his boots over to the couch. Kevin sits next to him, closer than he sat to Bill.

"I think I'm stuck here for a while," Mike says as he pulls on his socks. "But maybe after that we can get out of here." He glances up from tightening the laces on his boot. "If you know a good place, I could go for late night pancakes."

Kevin tries to think about Mike's words instead of the way he looks bent over and looking up at Kevin. He's already taken Mike to Betty's, and their burgers are better than their pancakes anyway.

"Du-Par's is close." Kevin pulls out his phone to look them up. "I think they're open all night." He finds the listing, which says they are open twenty-four hours. "They have really good pancakes."

"Okay." Mike finishes tying his other boot and leans back against the couch. His head drops back against it and he turns so his cheek is against the upholstery and he's looking at Kevin.

Kevin finds himself staring at the line of Mike's neck.

Mike's foot nudges against his, and Kevin jerks his gaze up, so he's looking at Mike's face instead. It's no less interesting than his neck.

"Dude," Mike says, "it's so awesome that you're here."

"I had to come see you play sometime." Kevin reaches out and pokes Mike's shoulder. "You're going to have to come to one of our concerts."

Mike, to his credit, doesn't look as horrified as he could, although he still looks like this was an unexpected angle. "I suppose that's fair."

"Completely fair." Kevin leans his cheek against the back of the couch, mirroring Mike. They're really close. "You can see how good I am on the guitar. And Nick says he's going to let me play piano on a song on the next tour."

"Piano," Mike says. "Isn't that usually Nick's thing?"

Kevin grins at him because Mike either remembered Kevin telling him that or looked them up. "It is! He's doing more singing, though, so I get a chance to play."

"That's cool."

"I like it." Kevin smiles goofily at Mike, which doesn't matter because Mike is smiling back at him just as goofily.

"Michael," Bill says, and there are two of them there, so Kevin doesn't know how Mike knows that Bill's talking to him.

"Yeah, I know." Mike hauls himself up off the couch. "We're still doing that everyone comes out to sign stuff at every show thing," he explains to Kevin. "You can hang out here or we can get someone to take you to the bus to hang out."

"Maybe if we put a hat on him," Sisky says. "That hair's pretty recognizable."

Kevin's not sure Sisky has any room to talk on that count, but he is right.

"I can hang out here," Kevin says. He's spent a lot of time in both dressing rooms and buses, and given a choice, he'll take the slightly larger space of a dressing room.

"It shouldn't be more than an hour or so," Mike says. He squeezes Kevin's shoulder before he leaves.

*

It takes an hour and a half. Mike spends the whole time trying not to let his antsiness get the better of him. He loves signing stuff for kids who come to their shows, but today he just wants to get back to Kevin. He's pretty sure he doesn't give it away to anyone but his band, who already know he'd rather be doing something else.

When the last kids finally take off, Mike heads back to the dressing room. Kevin's still on the couch, frowning intently at his phone. He looks up when Mike comes into the room, and his frown is immediately replaced by a smile.

"Hey," Mike says. He picks up his bag. "I have to drop this on the bus, and then we can go."

"Okay." Kevin stands up and puts his phone in his pocket. "Lead the way."

"Something important on your phone?"

Kevin looks a little sheepish. "Not really. Just playing hangman with Joe. You got me out of what was going to be an embarrassing loss."

Mike snorts. "Glad to be of service." At the bus, Kevin waits outside while Mike goes in to toss his bag into his bunk and make sure he has his wallet and phone with him.

They walk halfway across the parking lot to Kevin's car, and Mike's glad he pulled on a flannel over his t-shirt; even in L.A., January evenings are a little cool.

"Still want pancakes?" Kevin asks.

"Hell yes." Mike leans back against the window so he can watch Kevin drive. "We used to get midnight pancakes a lot when we were younger, but it's been a while." It's been a really long time, he realizes with a jolt. Later in the tour, he's going to make his band go out for pancakes after a show. "We used to hang out at IHOP in high school."

Kevin glances over at him. "Nick would never let us do that." He looks back at the road but there's still something inquisitive about the tilt of his head. "How is that every time we get together we go eat things Nick would get mad at me for?"

Mike grins at him. "It's my degenerate rock star lifestyle. I'm a bad influence."

Kevin laughs. Mike could listen to him do that forever.

"I promise not to corrupt you so much you can't look your brothers in the eye."

Kevin keeps laughing. "So no hookers and blow then?"

"Not even a totally legal beer," Mike promises. "Just high fat, high calorie foods."

Kevin's still snickering when he pulls into a parking lot. "You're the worst bad influence rock star."

Mike waits for Kevin to come around to his side of the car, and their arms brush against each other all the way into the restaurant.

"Two," Kevin tells the waitress who asks them how many, and she leads them to a small booth with overstuffed vinyl padding. It's small enough that they have to arrange themselves carefully to keep from kicking each other, and Mike's legs end up alongside Kevin's, close enough that they touch every time one of them moves.

Mike opens up the menu to the pancake section and stares at it in disbelief. This time, when he nudges Kevin's knee with his own, it's on purpose.

"These better be really good pancakes," he says, "if they don't even come with strawberries and whipped cream."

"They're so good they don't need any embellishment," Kevin says.

Mike's not sure if he should believe that, but the milkshake at Betty's was as good as promised, so maybe the pancakes will be too. He was looking forward to strawberries and whipped cream though.

"How much of a bad influence will I be if I order a milkshake to go with my pancakes?"

"Terrible," Kevin says with a grin. "Even worse if you share."

*

Kevin just has pancakes, but Mike orders bacon to go with his pancakes, and he asks the waitress for a second straw for the milkshake.

"You're such a bad influence," Kevin says when Mike gives him a piece of his bacon too.

Mike grins at him. "I saw cherry pie on the way in."

Kevin grins back. "You want pie now too?"

Mike's knee nudges his again. Kevin's heart skips a beat every time he does that. "We're sharing."

When the waitress comes back, Mike orders a slice of pie with ice cream and two forks. The sugar in the pie and the ice cream perfectly balance out the tartness of the cherries, and the crust is as flaky as Kevin could wish for.

"This was a good idea," he says.

"The pancakes or pie?" Mike asks through a mouthful of the latter.

"Everything." Kevin means it. He means everything from being born to Joe making him be a T-Bird to Mike suggesting they get late night pancakes.

Mike licks cherry filling off of his lips, and Kevin's eyes get kind of stuck there the same way they do every time Mike does that.

"When are we in the same place again?" Mike asks while he waits for Kevin to get a forkful of pie.

The reminder that they don't get to do this regularly takes some of the sweetness out of the pie.

"We go back on tour next month, but we hit Chicago before you're done and none of our dates overlap."

Mike stares at him over the pie, which makes Kevin realize maybe it's a little weird that he knows that.

"I looked it up," he admits.

Mike cuts his fork down through the ice cream and into the pie. "We don't have much going on after our tour. Maybe I can come visit you."

Kevin beams at him. "That would be awesome. And you still have to see me play."

"Send me your schedule," Mike says. "If you have a day off somewhere cool, maybe we can do something fun too."

"I've heard watching the Jonas Brothers side stage is something fun," Kevin says.

Mike makes an annoyed face at him that dissolves into something friendlier pretty quickly. "Something else fun. Something we can do together."

"I'd like that." Kevin feels just as uncool as he's always suspected he is, but Mike doesn't seem to mind. He actually looks pleased.

"Cool." Mike nudges the pie toward Kevin. "You want the last bite?"

Kevin waves it back toward Mike. "You can have it." Kevin actually is totally full, but he also likes watching Mike enjoy the pie.

After Mike finishes the pie, he pulls out his phone and makes a face at it. "I can't stay much longer. We have a crazy early bus call tonight."

Kevin feels a sharp tug of disappointment. "Okay." He thinks he's being very calm about it, but Mike looks unhappy too.

"This is what sucks about being on tour."

"Yeah," Kevin agrees. Then he shakes it off; no use in spending the small amount of time they do have together being miserable. "But at least you get to live on a bus with your best friends."

Mike snorts. "Yeah, that's such a privilege. I don't know how you do it. I can't imagine if they were my family too."

Kevin shrugs; he hears that a lot. "We're pretty used to it, and I don't ever have to share a room with Joe when we're on the bus, so." Kevin shrugs again. "It's not so bad."

"I guess you don't get homesick." Mike leans back in the booth and stretches in a way that shows off how well his shirt fits him. "I remember our first tour. Bill and I were already living on our own, but Adam was so homesick." Mike shakes his head. "He'll probably deny it if anyone asks, but he was."

"I miss this on the road," Kevin says. "Hanging out with friends who aren't my family and eating places I know are good."

The waitress comes by to see if they need anything else. Kevin asks her for the check and insists on paying. "My hometown, my turn," he reminds Mike.

"I guess that means we'll have to split the check next time," Mike says.

Kevin ignores the thrill that goes through him at that and says, "I guess so."

They get up to leave and Kevin has to exercise a lot of self-restraint to keep from touching Mike while they walk to the car. He does really well until he parks next to Mike's bus and it's time to say goodbye. Then he can't help clinging to Mike when they hug.

"Hey," Mike says, and he pulls away just a little, and then his lips are against Kevin's and it takes Kevin a moment to realize that Mike's _kissing_ him. As soon as he does, he makes this totally embarrassing whimper in the back of his throat and clutches at Mike's shirt.

*

It feels unbelievably good to kiss Kevin after three months of foreplay. If he had the time, Mike would push Kevin back against the car, slide his leg between Kevin's, and keep him there until they both got off or they could relocate to somewhere more private. He doesn't have the time, though. He looked at the clock before they got out of the car, and he only has a couple of minutes.

It makes him pull away well before he's ready. If he doesn't, his band is going to come out to fetch him, and he wants that even less than he wants to stop kissing Kevin.

Somehow one of his hands has ended up tangled in Kevin's hair. Mike carefully pulls it free and pats Kevin's hair back into place. It's mostly a reflex; Kevin's hair looks like it just does whatever it's going to do regardless of what Mike does to it.

If he had more time- Mike cuts off that train of thought. He doesn't have more time.

"I have to go." Mike cups the back of Kevin's head and presses his lips to Kevin's one more time. "I'll call you."

"Yeah." Kevin's looking a little dazed. Mike hopes he hasn't fucked everything up. He's good at doing that.

Mike has to exert all his willpower to keep from looking back as he punches in the code and gets on the bus. He does look out the tinted window, though, and watch Kevin touch his fingers to his mouth and then get into the car.

"Mike and Kevin, sittin' in a tree."

Mike flips Sisky off without looking. It doesn't stop him.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Mike loses sight of Kevin's car as it turns out of the parking lot. Mike's grown a lot, as a person, in the last couple of years; he walks past the rest of his band - seriously, _dicks_ , all of them - without hitting anyone, even though Sisky continues the rhyme and the rest of them smirk at him.

He rolls into his bunk and lies on his back, staring at the ceiling. He doesn't bother turning on the light, but there's just enough filtering in around the edges of the curtain that he can see the ceiling. Not that the ceiling's interesting or anything; it just gives him something to look at that isn't the back of his eyelids.

He kissed Kevin. He kissed Kevin while his whole band was probably watching them through the bus windows.

If he's honest with himself, which he finds he's trying to be more often since Bill called him out about not liking the women he's slept with, that kiss was a long time coming. It was also, he thinks, grinning without trying to hide it, one of the best kisses of his life. Bill might think he liked some of the men he's slept with, but he hasn't ever liked anyone like this.

He just hopes he didn't mess everything up by doing it. They never talked about it. Mike's been pretty sure about Kevin's interest in him too, but Kevin hasn't said anything about liking guys. Of course, he hasn't said anything about liking girls either, so Mike can still hope.

The bus starts to move, and Mike resists the urge to call Kevin right now.

He can't believe he actually kissed Kevin. He can't wait to do it again.

*

"Kevin! Time to get up!"

Kevin scrunches his eyes tighter. Sometimes sharing a room with Frankie is not all it's cut out to be.

"Shh," Mom says. "He was up late last night. Let him sleep."

The door closes again, and it's quiet, which means Mom took Frankie out with her. Of course, he's awake now, and he's not going to be able to fall asleep again, no matter how late he was up last night.

Kevin grins into his pillow. Last night. Last night was definitely a date. He's dating Mike Carden. This is the best thing that's ever happened to him.

He grabs his phone off the nightstand and scrolls down to Mike's name. _Good morning. :)_ he types in. He has to think about what else to say. "Kiss me again" might be a little forward, plus it's not something Mike can do from the road, as much as it is what Kevin wants. He grins again. Mike kissed him! It's no less amazing no matter how many times he thinks it.

He types, _Miss you already,_ and sends it before he can talk himself out of it. They've been talking for three months, and Mike kissed him. It can't be too forward to say he misses Mike.

He hops in the shower and gets dressed, then sticks his phone in his pocket before he goes downstairs to see if there's still breakfast.

He's in luck; the rest of the family is still at the table, and there are enough pancakes left that he won't have to make himself something to eat.

Mom kisses his cheek and hands him a plate. "I was going to let you sleep in."

"I wasn't going to fall asleep again." Kevin takes a couple of pancakes and drizzles just a taste of syrup onto them under Nick's watchful eye.

"Someone had a good night," Joe says. When Kevin looks up, Joe's smirking at him. "How's Mike?"

Kevin knows he's not keeping enough off of his face, but he says, "Good," and tries to look meaningfully in Frankie's direction. Maybe the reminder will keep Joe from pursuing it much further.

As usual, nothing that subtle works on Joe.

"I didn't even hear you come in."

"I didn't get back until late." Kevin shoves a forkful of pancake into his mouth so he can't say anything else.

"I never get to stay out late when it's not for one of your concerts," Frankie says, saving Kevin from whatever Joe was inclined to say about it.

"When you're Kevin's age," Mom says, "then you can stay out late. Joe, let your brother eat."

Joe's look promises that this isn't the end of the conversation, but Nick distracts him by saying, "Let's go work on that bridge."

Frankie tucks his feet up under him on his chair. "What did you do last night?"

"I watched Mike's band play, and then we went to get something to eat." Kevin relaxes a little; Frankie's not as much trouble as Joe.

"Joe kept saying it was a date. Was it a date?"

Or maybe not.

"Frankie," Mom says, "If you're done eating, you can put your plate up and play the Wii for half an hour."

Frankie's old enough to know when he's being gotten rid of, but not so old that he'd rather stay and make a nuisance of himself than go play video games. He puts his plate in the sink and leaves Kevin alone with Mom and Dad.

Kevin puts his fork down. He's not hungry anymore.

"Kevin," Dad says, "was it a date?"

Kevin's heart pounds even though Dad doesn't sound mad, just curious.

"Yes."

Mom and Dad look at each other.

"We're worried," Mom says, "because Mike's older than you, and he doesn't seem to live the same kind of life we do."

"We don't want you to be pressured into doing anything you wouldn't do otherwise," Dad adds.

"He's only three years older." Kevin tries to keep his voice even. He wants to yell, or cry, but he knows that his best argument here is to be an adult about it. "He hasn't tried to pressure me into anything."

"We know we've raised you right," Dad says, "and we hope you will always make the right choices and walk with Jesus. We also know that at your age having new friends might tempt you toward a different path."

Kevin thinks for a moment about how to say that it's not like that at all in a way that Mom and Dad will listen to him. "I know that God has a path for me," he says. "I'm walking that path with Jesus as best I can. Going on a date with Mike hasn't changed that."

"I'm sure it hasn't now," Mom says. "But remember to keep Jesus in your heart." She gets up and comes around to kiss the top of his head. "I know you'll make the right choices."

Dad nods. "We trust you, Kevin. Don't give us a reason not to."

*

Mike wakes up to the familiar movement of the bus. He goes to the bathroom and brushes his teeth - late night pancakes and cherry pie do not make for pleasant morning breath - before he picks up his phone. There are a couple of dickish messages from his band that he deletes. He leaves the message from Kevin for last:

 _Good morning. :) Miss you already._

Mike's totally helpless against the grin it brings to his face. _miss you too,_ he texts back.

If anyone made coffee, it's all gone now, so Mike starts a new pot and sits down at the table to wait for it.

The pot's almost done when Kevin calls. Mike grins into the phone as he answers it with a cheerful, "Hey. You were up early this morning."

"Mom was going to let me sleep, but Frankie was being too loud and woke me up." There's something off about Kevin's voice that Mike can't quite place. "You slept in late."

"I did." The coffee pot clicks off, so Mike tucks his phone between shoulder and ear and pours himself a cup. "If they aren't staying up, the rest of my band sleeps late. Unlike yours."

Kevin's chuckle doesn't sound quite right either. "We do get up pretty early in the morning. It's the secret to our success."

Maybe Kevin is just tired. But, oh fuck, dating - holy fuck, _dating_ \- someone he likes means that Mike has to ask and that he actually cares about the answer.

"Are you freaked out about last night?"

There's a heartbeat too long of silence, and then Kevin says, "I'm not," with a weird emphasis. He's silent for another heartbeat, and Mike doesn't know what to say, and then Kevin says, "Mom and Dad kind of are."

Mike has never been good with parents.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Kevin sighs. "I think they'll get over it."

Mike doesn't know what that means. "Does that mean we can't hang out?"

"No way," Kevin says forcefully. "You said you'd come see me play."

Fuck, Mike hates having to take someone else's feelings into account, especially when he's not getting laid out of the deal. "It's not going to cause problems with your parents?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. But, hey, you think Frankie's cool," Kevin says almost too brightly. "If it'll make them feel better, we can bring him along to chaperone."

"If you do that, I'm going to make him look the other way when I kiss you. I wouldn't want your parents to think I'm a bad influence on both of you."

"No," Kevin says, "that's cool. I don't want him watching us kiss either."

Mike's stomach relaxes. He will get to kiss Kevin again. He didn't fuck everything up.

There's a muffled voice calling Kevin's name, and Kevin calls out to them, "Just a minute." To Mike he says, "I have to go. Nick's being a taskmaster again."

Mike doesn't want to let Kevin go, but at least he'll be able to talk to Kevin again. "I guess I'll talk to you later."

"You will," Kevin promises. "And I'll send you the list of our tour dates and days off and stuff. If there's anywhere you want to visit, we can do that."

"Okay," Mike agrees. He doesn't want to say goodbye. Apparently Kevin doesn't either, because they just listen to each other breathe for a few long seconds.

When Kevin finally speaks, he says, "I have to go," soft and apologetic.

"Yeah, I know. I have coffee to drink anyway."

Kevin laughs. "I'll talk to you later." He hangs up, and Mike clicks his own phone off before reaching for his cooling coffee.

Chiz slides into the booth across from him with his own cup of coffee. Mike didn't even notice him coming out of the bunks.

"I heard some of that. Problems with the parents?"

Mike shrugs. "Yeah. I guess. Kevin thinks they'll get over it."

Chiz hmms and sips at his coffee. "You could talk to Bill about it. He's been where you are."

Mike really doesn't want to talk to Bill about this. He's okay talking to Chiz a little because Chiz is his best friend, but he doesn't really want to talk about it with anyone. He doesn't want there to be anything to talk about.

"They're only mostly over it because of Genevieve." Mike tightens his hands around his coffee mug. "Kevin and I are barely even dating right now, not giving them grandchildren." And, shit, there he goes, putting it out there out loud.

Chiz hmms again. "Maybe." Then he looks at Mike with that look that reminds Mike, when he's forgotten, that Chiz is a lot sharper than his usual easy-going nature would suggest. "You do know that we don't care that you're dating a guy."

Mike shrugs uncomfortably. "Yeah, sure."

"You don't talk about him very much, is all," Chiz says. He sips at his coffee while Mike stares down into his. "We're going to give you shit because he's a Jonas brother, but not because he's your boyfriend."

Maybe his coffee will surge up out of his cup and swallow Mike up and take him away from this conversation. When that doesn't happen, he mutters, "He's not my boyfriend."

Chiz actually laughs at him then. "You didn't even look at that girl two nights ago who was all over you."

Mike has to think to remember who Chiz is talking about. He vaguely remembers a woman at a bar they'd gone to after the show. She was flirting with him, but Adam and Butcher were having an argument over the best kind of fruit snacks, and Mike was trying to pay attention so he could tell Kevin about it later.

"Or that guy in Austin."

Mike remembers the guy. He was solid, and wearing a shirt to show it off, and he was the kind of guy Mike goes for sometimes. He gave Mike a not particularly subtle once-over, and Mike didn't even think about going for it. He just smiled, shrugged, and casually turned back to look at the pictures of Genevieve that Bill couldn't resist sharing the moment Christine emailed them. The guy in Austin is probably a more persuasive argument about Kevin being his boyfriend.

*

In-flight wi-fi is pretty much Kevin's favorite thing right now. It means he can read Mike's email from thirty thousand feet and there isn't anything else he's supposed to be doing, so he can also pop his earphones in and theoretically be undisturbed. "Theoretically" being the key word. In reality, he's just clicked in Gmail's reply box when Joe flops down in the previously unoccupied seat next to him. Joe pulls out the earbud closest to him and sticks it in his own ear.

Joe makes a face. "You're totally not the cool one."

Kevin thinks George Strait is totally cool, but he knows from experience that it's not worth arguing. He takes his earbud back. "Did you come up here just to harass me?"

"Pretty much." Joe leans over and peers at Kevin's screen. "What are you doing?"

Kevin closes his laptop before Joe can read Mike's email. "Email. And, no, you can't read it."

Joe pouts, but not for very long. "You had to listen to country for that?"

"I'm also making a mix." Telling Joe that was maybe a mistake, because he lights up with glee.

"What for?" Before Kevin can even answer, Joe rushes on with, "You should put something cooler than George Strait on there."

"It's for Mike," Kevin says. "George Strait has to be on there because it's a mix of things I like that he might too."

Joe stares at him. "And you're putting 'I Just Want To Dance With You' on it?" He lowers his voice. "Do Mom and Dad know you have a boyfriend?"

"He's not-" Kevin realizes he's way too loud if he doesn't want this conversation to be overheard. "He's not my boyfriend," he says quietly. "And I don't know if it's going on there."

Joe pokes his head up over the top of their seats and looks around, then settles back down and leans in toward Kevin. "But you're dating him, right?"

Kevin briefly wonders why he thought talking to Joe about Mike would be a good idea at all. "Yeah."

"And Mom and Dad?"

Kevin shrugs tightly. "Know."

Joe bumps his shoulder against Kevin's. "Nick and I totally have your back."

Kevin smiles for real. "Does Nick know that?"

"Dude," Joe says, "I can totally speak for Nick."

Nick appears at the end of the row like he's Beetlejuice and saying his name three times summoned him. "You can not."

Joe pushes the armrest up and slides half into Kevin's seat so Nick can sit down with them. "I can too. We totally have Kevin's back about Mike."

"Of course we do." Nick looks from Joe to Kevin. "Do we need to?"

"Mom and Dad think he's a bad influence." The words seem to stick in Kevin's throat and leave an unpleasant aftertaste.

"If they think that, they seriously don't know you," Nick says. Joe nods in vigorous agreement.

Kevin totally loves his brothers. "Thanks."

Joe wraps his arms around Kevin and squeezes him almost too tight. "I told you, we totally have your back." He keeps one arm around Kevin's shoulders and turns back so he can see Nick. "Kevin's making a mix for Mike. You have to help me convince him to put something cooler than George Strait on there."

*

Mike opens his email and skips straight to the one from Kevin. "Made this for you," it says. "Joe and Nick tried to help but I wouldn't let them." There are another three paragraphs of Kevin's brothers' antics, and then his signature, and then, "P.S. Miss you. Can't wait to see you in Cleveland."

Mike grins and downloads the attachment. It's a zip file of music, with a document telling him the track list. He unzips it and pulls it into iTunes so he can sync it with his iPod.

He starts listening while he writes back, exchanging stories about Sisky and Bill for Kevin's Joe and Nick ones and giving Kevin his flight information.

Most of it is not the kind of music he would choose to listen to for himself, but he's willing to give it a chance if Kevin thinks he might like it. He gives up on his email after replying to Kevin and instead stretches out, taking up the whole couch in the back lounge, and closes his eyes while he listens.

He gets maybe halfway through the playlist before someone sits down on his stomach.

Mike's eyes fly open, and he pushes at Bill. "Get off of me."

Bill falls laughing to the floor.

Mike pulls one of his earbuds out. "You're fucking heavy."

Bill shrugs. "You looked like you needed to be bothered. What are you listening to?" He takes the earbud from Mike's hand without asking and puts it in his own ear. He makes a face a few seconds later. "Is this _country_? Why are you listening to this?"

Mike reaches over and takes his earbud back. "Kevin sent me a mix."

Bill stares at him. "That's adorable," he finally says, "in a totally high school kind of way."

Mike pushes at his shoulder. "Shut up. Like you don't send music home to Christine and Genevieve all the time."

Bill pulls his knees up to his chest and rests his cheek against them. "So what's he telling you with music?"

Mike hits pause and pulls out his other earbud so he's not trying to split his attention. "I haven't listened to it all the way through yet."

Bill keeps just looking at him, for long enough that it starts to make Mike uncomfortable.

"I'm proud of you," Bill finally says, serious and affectionate. "I think dating someone you actually like is good for you."

Mike picks at a spot where his jeans are starting to wear through. "His parents are kind of freaked out."

"I'd be more surprised if they weren't."

Mike keeps poking at his jeans so he doesn't have to look at Bill. "Chiz said I should talk to you." He makes a face. "I don't really remember what it was like with you and Christine."

"Her parents hated me," Bill says bluntly. "They didn't want her dating me, and she did anyway."

Mike watches out of the corner of his eye as Bill scoots closer and leans his head on the couch next to Mike's knee.

"It's going to be tougher on him than on you, and sometimes you'll want to just let go because it'll be easier and you don't want to hurt him." Bill pokes at his knee. "If you love him, it's worth it if you can tough it out."

It's too early for Mike to know if he loves Kevin, but not too early to know he doesn't want to do anything to hurt him.

*

"No, hey." Kevin pushes past Big Rob. "I'll get it." He peers through the peephole to be sure, and then opens the door grinning.

Mike grins back at him, and steps inside before he catches Kevin up in a hug. He's also kind of looking past Kevin at Big Rob and Frankie, so Kevin takes the initiative and presses his lips to Mike's in a quick kiss. He'd do more, but Big Rob and Frankie are watching them with interest, so he just slides his hand down Mike's arm until he can hold Mike's hand.

"You've met Big Rob, and I think you kind of met Frankie. This is Mike."

Frankie rolls his eyes. "Like you don't talk about him all the time."

Kevin's not sure what made him think Frankie would be any less trouble than Nick and Joe.

"Can we go now?"

"In a minute," Kevin says. He turns to Mike and lowers his voice. "I know bringing Frankie was mostly a joke, but then he wanted to come, and Mom and Dad said we had to take Big Rob too." He squeezes Mike's hand. "I'm sorry it can't be just us."

Mike squeezes back. "It's okay." He pulls something out of one of his pockets. "I brought you something."

It's a CD. Kevin takes it and turns it so he can read what Mike's written on it in thick Sharpie: Shit for Kevin.

Kevin grins. "Thanks. I can't wait to listen to it." He lets go of Mike's hand to go put the CD with his laptop.

"Can we go _now_?" Frankie asks.

"Hey, Frankie," Mike says, "why don't you go hit the button for the elevator, and we'll be there in a minute."

Frankie points at him. "I know you're just trying to get rid of me."

"Frankie," Kevin says, exasperated, "don't be rude."

"Come on, Frank." Big Rob jerks his head toward the door. "Let's go." He pins Kevin with a stare that doesn't intimidate him anymore; he knows what a softy Big Rob really is. "One minute."

Kevin nods.

The moment the door closes behind Rob and Frankie, Mike pulls Kevin in and kisses him, a real kiss this time, the kind that leaves Kevin breathless and clinging to the back of Mike's jacket.

Mike looks a little flustered, too. "We should probably-" He gestures at the door but doesn't let go.

"Yeah," Kevin says, still dazed. He shakes it off. "Or Frankie'll come back, and he has a key."

Now Mike does let go, but he takes Kevin's hand again, which makes it kind of okay, and opens the door for Kevin.

" _Finally_ ," Frankie says when they get to the elevators. "We had to let the elevator pass us by three times already."

Kevin ruffles Frankie's hair. "The musuem will still be there in ten minutes." When he looks over, Mike's smiling at both of them.

*

Traveling with Kevin's entourage, even the mini version, is weird. They go out through the parking garage in an SUV with tinted windows. Even Frankie has shades to wear for the drive, although Mike can't see what good they'll actually do any of them.

Mike is perfectly happy to have Frankie along, though, because Frankie sits up front with Big Rob and leaves Mike and Kevin alone in the back seat. Kevin's totally unconsciously resting his hand on the seat between them while he tells Frankie something about Cleveland, so Mike takes it in his. Kevin flashes him a quick smile and squeezes his hand.

Mike's been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before, with his band, but it's totally different this time. Frankie's just a kid, so even though he's been traveling all over the world with his brothers, he still has this wide-eyed wonder about him. Kevin, for all that he's an adult, matches that with his own total enthusiasm for everything they see.

Frankie keeps dragging Kevin from exhibit to exhibit, but they're both having fun and Mike's seen it before, so none of them care that they're not seeing anything in depth. Well, Big Rob might care, but Big Rob is really big and kind of intimidating, so Mike's not about to ask him.

Kevin and Frankie don't seem to find Big Rob intimidating at all, and Frankie even goes so far as to get Big Rob to pick him up when he wants to see something better.

"Frankie," Kevin says when he does it again at the Queen exhibit, "don't lean so-"

He's too late, because some kind of alarm goes off. Frankie jerks back and turns in Big Rob's arms to clutch at his shoulders. Kevin just looks chagrined.

"Sorry," Big Rob says to the passing security guard who comes over to see what's going on. "We've got it under control."

It's like there's some kind of psychic bond between security guys, because the guard takes Big Rob's word for it and wanders away.

"I didn't mean to," Frankie says in a small voice.

"I know you didn't," Kevin says.

Mike's trying not to laugh, because the littlest Jonas nearly getting them in trouble with security is pretty much the funniest thing ever, and it's going to make a good story to tell his band, but he doesn't think Frankie will appreciate it.

"We could take a break for lunch," he suggests.

Frankie peers out from his place against Big Rob. "Can we eat at the place here?"

Mike glances at Kevin, who nods.

"Sure," Mike says. "Do you know where it is?"

"No."

Mike tugs the museum map out of his back pocket. "Let's see if we can figure it out."

Frankie makes Big Rob put him down, and Mike crouches down to his level so they can look at the map together. Once Frankie figures out where they are and where they're going, he takes the map and he and Big Rob lead the way.

Kevin brushes his fingers against Mike's wrist as they follow. "Thanks," he says. "That was a good distraction."

Mike bumps his shoulder against Kevin's. "Food always works on my band."

*

Kevin wasn't really sure about bringing Frankie and Big Rob along on what was essentially a date, but it works out much better than he expected. The presence of Frankie and Big Rob keep him from dragging Mike off to a bathroom stall to make out (although not from thinking about it), and while Mike still seems wary of Big Rob, he does really well with Frankie.

Kevin's keeping an eye on the time and on Frankie because he knows how late Frankie was awake last night, and he expects a meltdown around three. At two-thirty, he starts subtly herding them toward the exit.

"You got somewhere else to be?" Mike asks it so quietly that Frankie and Big Rob probably don't hear him.

"We were up late. Frankie's not going to last the whole afternoon," Kevin murmurs back.

Maybe he should have said something earlier, because Mike helps steer them through exhibits that will take them out of the museum.

Frankie, without even seeming to realize he's being directed, asks, "Can we go to the gift shop?"

"Yes," Kevin says. "But you can't buy everything in there. We don't have that much space."

Frankie seems inclined to ignore him, but Mike puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'll make you a deal," he says. "You don't give your brother a hard time, and I'll buy you one thing."

Frankie looks from Mike to Kevin and must decide it's worth it. "Deal!" He rushes ahead of them into the gift shop.

Mike bumps his shoulder against Kevin's. "If you're good, I might buy you one thing too." He's smiling at Kevin, like they're the adults in on this together, and he tangles their fingers together for a brief moment. Kevin wishes they could've held hands all day, but he gets that there are things they can't do in public.

Frankie spends a good forty-five minutes scrutinizing everything the gift shop has to offer. It's longer than Kevin thought he would last, and since Big Rob trails Frankie around, it leaves Kevin free to hang out with Mike.

Mike keeps trying to find something for Kevin, and when he holds a tie up against Kevin's shirt, Kevin says for what seems like the millionth time, "Really, you don't have to buy me anything from the gift shop."

"I know I don't have to." Mike's hand skims along Kevin's waist under the guise of leaning in to put the tie back. "I want to."

Kevin can feel himself blushing and fights the urge to lean into Mike's touch and kiss him.

"I want this." Frankie's interruption breaks the moment. He holds something up to them, and Kevin has to blink away the daze brought on by Mike being so close to see what it is. Frankie has actually not gone overboard; Kevin was worried by some of the things in the gift shop. What he's ended up with is a cup with 50s rock and roll designs on it and a crazy twisty plastic straw that matches the color of the lid.

Mike takes it from him and turns it in his hands. "Good choice," he proclaims. He grins. "Show me where you got it." He turns to Kevin. "I'm totally getting one for Bill. He'll either love it or pretend to be mad and end up giving it to Genevieve."

They follow Frankie on a winding path through the store to the cups. Frankie chose the one with the red lid and straw; Mike chooses the blue.

"Who's Genevieve?" Frankie asks as they make their way to the cash register.

Mike stops and pulls something off a rack - Kevin doesn't see what - before he answers. "She's Bill's daughter." Mike pays for the cups and whatever else he bought, and they start to leave.

Mike stops him outside the gift shop, bag still hooked over his wrist, and carefully pins something to Kevin's shirt.

When he looks down, he finds it's a red guitar pin with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame logo on it, and Mike's pinned it directly over his heart.

"I told you I was going to get you something."

Kevin squeezes Mike's hand tight, not even caring who might be watching, and says, "Thank you."

*

"Come watch a movie with us," Kevin says when they get back to the hotel.

Frankie turns a look on them. "You're not going to be all gross, are you?"

Kevin's pretty cute when he's embarrassed. "No," he answers for them. "Coming?" he asks Mike.

Mike avoids the obvious joke and says, "Sure. What are we watching?"

Frankie leans against Kevin in the elevator, and Mike watches the easily affectionate way Kevin puts his arm around Frankie's shoulders.

"Something PG," Frankie says.

"Nice try." Kevin sounds serious, but Frankie's not looking at him and Mike is, and Mike can see him smiling. "Just because Mike is here doesn't mean we get to break all the rules."

Watching Kevin with Frankie, Mike has the sudden and uncomfortable thought that maybe Bill's method of having kids to make the in-laws like him isn't such a bad idea.

When they get to Frankie and Kevin's floor, Frankie runs ahead to their door while Big Rob walks with Kevin and Mike. "Call me if you're going anywhere," Big Rob says before he lets them go into the room.

Kevin nods and high-fives him, which seems like a strange thing to do with Big Rob, but Kevin has a different relationship with him than Mike does. Big Rob isn't exactly glaring at him, but he's clearly less trusting of Mike than he is of Kevin.

In the room, Frankie drops the bag with his cup in it on the bed farthest from the TV and clambers up onto the other one.

"Shoes," Kevin says mildly, and Frankie kicks them off, then, when Kevin looks at him, lines them up neatly next to the closet. Mike's torn between laughing and being impressed.

Mike wasn't really thinking logistics when he agreed to hang out with them, but now that he's there, he's not sure where he's supposed to sit. Kevin solves the problem for him by sitting down on the same bed Frankie's spread out over. He leans against the headboard and pats the space next to him.

Mike takes his boots off and lines them up next to Kevin and Frankie's shoes before he joins them. He sits with Kevin, shoulders, hips, and outstretched legs pressed together, while Frankie stays spread out on the other end of the bed.

Kevin lets Frankie pick the movie, and he ends up on something on the Disney Channel, which Mike only knows because of the logo in the corner of the screen.

"Can't escape, huh?" Mike keeps his voice low so he doesn't disturb Frankie.

Kevin looks sheepish. "It's wholesome for kids."

"Sure thing," Mike teases.

Frankie turns his head. "Shhh!" he hisses at them, complete with finger pressed against his lips.

Mike presses his lips tightly together so he doesn't laugh. When he turns his head, he can see Kevin doing the same thing. It only makes him want to laugh even more. Kevin isn't much better off, his eyes sparkling with it, and he buries his head in Mike's shoulder, and Mike can feel his silent laughter shaking them both.

Mike feels a lot less like laughing with Kevin pressed against him like this. He keeps an eye on Frankie, who seems completely absorbed by the movie, and puts his arms around Kevin.

Kevin stops laughing and lifts his head. He's still smiling, softer now, and Mike's pretty much given up on fighting or denying the way Kevin looking at him makes him want to give him everything.

He settles for a kiss, soft and quiet so they don't disturb Frankie. Kevin kisses back, keeping it light, and then he pulls away with a smile that looks as contented as Mike feels. He turns in Mike's arms so he's a warm weight against Mike's chest. If it weren't for Frankie, Mike would be tempted to slip his hands under Kevin's shirt to rest directly on his skin, but he keeps them on the outside, lightly curved over Kevin's stomach.

Mike tries watching the movie, but he finds his attention mostly on Kevin, the rhythm of his breathing, the weight of his body, the way he fits in Mike's arms.

Mike is never, ever going to say any of that to his band.

*

Ten-year-old chaperone or no, this is the best date Kevin's ever been on. Mike helped keep Frankie from melting down, they got to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and now he has Mike's arms around him to distract him from the fact that he's already seen _Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie_ half a dozen times.

At least he doesn't have to watch it long; it takes less than half an hour before Frankie's body relaxes into the particular boneless sprawl of sleep.

Kevin leans forward out of Mike's arms and carefully eases the remote out of Frankie's hand so he can turn off the TV. Then he climbs off the bed and tugs at Mike's hand.

"He's a pretty sound sleeper," he says softly as he pulls Mike over to the other bed.

"Yeah?" Mike sits back down the way he was before, back against the headboard and legs outstretched. "How long will he be out?"

Kevin shrugs. "Half an hour, at least. Maybe more." He stands next to the bed and looks at Mike. He's not exactly sure what he's supposed to do now, other than get close to Mike. The prospect of it is enough to make his skin feel too tight.

"C'mere." Mike tugs at his hand and pulls him down onto the bed, and farther so he's straddling Mike and their faces are almost at the same level. "C'mere," Mike says again, and he slides his arms around Kevin's waist, tugs him closer.

Kevin takes the hint. He means for it to be just a kiss, like earlier when they were kissing hello, but it quickly turns out to be like the other kiss where Kevin ended up breathless and clinging.

Mike's clinging just as much, though, so Kevin doesn't feel silly about it.

Kevin has to pull away to breathe, and somehow when they were kissing Mike slid them down so he's lying totally on the bed with Kevin lying on top of him. Kevin can feel the heat flushing his cheeks when he realizes what they must look like.

"Don't stop," Mike murmurs, and he puts his hand into Kevin's hair, cupping the back of his head, and his eyes are half-closed and sleepy.

Kevin doesn't want to stop, so much so that his skin feels hot all over. He kisses Mike again, and he means for it to be gentle, but it's not, and he's embarrassed all over agian when he hears the needy little noises that are spilling out of his own mouth.

"Kevin," Mike protests when Kevin pulls himself away.

Kevin rests his forehead against Mike's. "This is moving kind of fast."

Mike laughs, a little too loud, and they both freeze and then look over to make sure Frankie's still asleep.

"Kevin," Mike murmurs, "this is the slowest relationship I've ever been in."

Kevin can't even take that in because he's totally stuck on the part where Mike said they're in a relationship. Sure, he told Joe and Nick that they're dating, but him saying it to his brothers is something totally different from talking about it with Mike.

Kevin brushes his fingers through the long strands of Mike's hair, letting them fall against his skin. "This is the most important relationship I've ever been in," he says, and then quietly freaks out because he maybe didn't mean to tell Mike that much.

Mike just looks at him for what feels like a really long time, and then he pulls Kevin down without even trying to kiss him again. It's nice, to just lie there with Mike's arms around him and no expectations. "I think," Mike says, slowly like he doesn't want to give away too much either, "that I've never liked anyone I've been with as much as I like you."

Kevin smiles against Mike's neck, helplessly happy. He presses his lips against Mike's skin in a quick kiss, and then rests his head on Mike's shoulder.

Mike's chest moves with his breath in an even, steady rhythm. Kevin wonders if it's something he could work into a song. Maybe not a Jonas Brothers pop song, but maybe something more adult, which Nick wants to do anyway.

Kevin loses himself in the rhythm, in how comfortable and right it feels to be pressed against Mike's warmth.

"Hey," Mike says, breaking the silence, "are you falling asleep on me?"

Kevin opens his eyes. He doesn't remember closing them. "No."

Mike laughs softly, changing the rhythm of his breath beneath Kevin's cheek. "You were up late last night too, weren't you?" His hands stroke soothingly up and down Kevin's back.

Kevin arches into the touch. "Yeah, but I'm awake." He ruins it by yawning.

"Sure you are," Mike says. He ducks his head a little to kiss Kevin's temple. "I can go if you want to take a nap."

Kevin clutches at Mike. "No. You're not here for very long." He struggles to push himself up enough to look at Mike. "I don't want to sleep through it."

Mike smiles and kisses him. "Maybe you should take a nap now so you're awake for dinner."

Kevin yawns again. "Do we have plans for dinner?"

"Yep." Mike's fingers are gentle against Kevin's cheek. Then he rolls them over in one swift motion. "You get some sleep." He kisses Kevin's cheek where he was just touching. "I'll come get you at six-thirty." He gets off the bed despite Kevin holding onto him and leans back down for one more kiss. "Wear something nice."

*

Mike hasn't been this nervous about a date since his high school prom, if then. Sure, things are going well, but this is a real date, nice clothes and expensive restaurant, and both of them knowing they're dating. Mike hates it when he has to admit his band was right.

He hates it a little less when Kevin opens the door to his knock and his eyes widen as he very obviously checks Mike out and likes what he sees.

"I'm leaving," Kevin calls back towards the rest of the room, and at least two of his brothers say something that Mike doesn't have time to hear because Kevin is pulling the door shut behind him and stepping right up against Mike. "Hi," he breathes.

"Hi." Mike barely has to lean because Kevin is meeting his kiss almost before he moves.

Kevin pulls away first. "You look amazing." He rakes his eyes up and down Mike's body again.

Mike doesn't get dressed up very often and never quite feels comfortable in slacks and a button-down, but the way Kevin's looking at him is going a long way toward making him like it more. He presses his thumb to Kevin's lip, just to touch him.

"You always look good."

There's a muffled laugh, and Mike jerks his hand away while Kevin rolls his eyes.

"Stop eavesdropping," Kevin calls toward the door. He takes Mike's hand. "I hope we're going somewhere other than the hallway." They start toward the elevators. "I really don't need my brothers watching this whole date."

Mike, based on his experiences with his band and what he knows of Kevin's brothers, wholeheartedly agrees. "No chaperone?"

"I am to leave my phone on at all times," Kevin says, in a tone that says he's repeating what he's been told, "and call Big Rob if I need rescuing." He smiles at Mike, looking at him sideways in a way that makes Mike's heart skip a beat. "I won't need rescuing."

"No. We're going somewhere very safe." Mike squeezes Kevin's hand.

Kevin squeezes back. "I trust you."

It's a lot. Kevin is about a million times more famous than him, and in a segment of the industry not known for its gay overtones. Kevin has a lot more to lose.

They stop holding hands when the elevator reaches the lobby. They go out a side door and walk around the corner before they catch a cab. They don't hold hands in the cab either.

Mike chose the restaurant early enough to get reservations, which was a good idea because two groups of people get turned away before he and Kevin even get from the door to the podium.

The maitre d' says, "Right this way, Mr. Carden," after Mike gives his name, and he can hear Kevin giggle behind him. He turns his head to look at Kevin and almost starts laughing himself.

They hold it together until the maitre d' seats them and starts to walk away, and then they both burst into laughter. They're in a curved booth with high sides, and they're both close to the center of it, so their laughter is contained, and the matire d' doesn't even glance back at them.

"I don't think anyone's called me Mr. Carden since teachers in high school when I was late to class."

"I never get called Mr. Jonas," Kevin says through his giggles. "There are always at least three of us around."

Mike shudders, mostly for show. "I love my brother and my dad, but I don't think I could take being around them that much."

"Yeah, but you're around your band all the time."

Mike doesn't know exactly what the look on his face is, but it makes Kevin laugh.

"Sometimes," Mike grumbles, "I don't want to be around them that much either."

Kevin stops laughing. "Is this," he waves a hand between them, "causing problems with your band?"

Mike shakes his head and thinks back to Bill saying "It's going to be tougher on him than on you." "No. They've actually been pretty good about it. Kind of dicks about it, but not any more than they would be about anyone else's relationship."

That's the second time today he's called it a relationship. He should be freaked out about it, or something. He's not exactly a relationship kind of guy. But he's not freaked out at all, and he figures that's probably because he's had time to get used to it; his band has been talking about him dating Kevin since the first time they got dinner. Or maybe it's just that he actually likes the idea of being in a relationship with Kevin.

"That's good," Kevin says. He fidgets with the menu. "Nick and Joe are cool with it. And Frankie, I guess."

Mike hears what he's not saying, that his parents still aren't.

*

Kevin is a terrible date. He didn't mean to bring it up, but there it is, and he's pretty sure Mike knows it too.

"So what is it?" Mike asks. "They not down with homosexuality or what?"

Kevin shrugs. That's probably part of it, the part they aren't going to talk about because if there's anything his parents believe in it's loving their children no matter what. "You're older. You drink and smoke and swear." Kevin shrugs again, and looks sideways at Mike. "You have sex."

Maybe he shouldn't have said that.

Mike puts his menu down on the table and tugs Kevin's out of his hands. Kevin doesn't want to let it go, but Mike is pretty insistent.

"Not since I met you," he says, and Kevin thinks that's actually the hint of a blush across his cheeks. "I, um. People have hit on me. People who were my type."

Kevin feels a surprisingly sharp stab of jealousy.

"But I didn't." Mike makes a hand gesture that Kevin figures is supposed to stand in for "have sex with them." Mike shrugs a little, and that's definitely a blush staining his cheeks. "I, um, have you, so."

Kevin fidgets, twisting his ring on his finger. He knows Mike knows it's there, but they haven't talked about it. He hasn't told Mike what it means to him or what it means to his parents or anything. He thinks it's a pretty big thing not to have talked about, but they're rarely ever in the same place anyway, and he wasn't even totally sure they were dating.

He wishes suddenly for a waiter to interrupt them, but the staff is well trained enough to leave them alone.

"I haven't wanted to have sex with anyone as much I want to with you." Kevin looks at the table as he says it. "This means something, though." He holds up his hand so the ring is between them.

"Okay," Mike says slowly. "I knew that."

"You can't," Kevin says. His stomach is churning and his face feels hot. This is the most uncomfortable he's ever been with Mike, and for as awkward as he's felt about all of this, that's saying something. "I don't even know what it means anymore." He didn't mean to say that. It's something he's only barely admitted to himself.

Mike looks about as lost as Kevin feels. "Um."

Kevin pastes on a smile that feels completely fake. "Forget it. Let's just eat." He reaches for his menu, but Mike puts his hand over it and doesn't let him take it.

"Kevin," he says, and he looks like he doesn't know what else to say.

Kevin sighs and looks down at his hands instead of at Mike. "It was something our parents wanted us to do, and now it's become this whole _thing_ and I don't know if I believe in waiting for marriage. Not that I could marry you anyway, except maybe in Iowa, and I don't even know if we're that serious or anything; I mean we've only known each other for a couple of months." It all comes out in a rush, all the things he's been trying not to think about.

Mike's hand creeps into his field of vision, and Kevin watches as it wraps around one of his. "Not yet," he says, "but maybe someday." His thumb rubs across the back of Kevin's hand. "Christine's family is really religious. They hated her dating Bill. I talked to Bill about it." Mike started out sounding totally calm and together, but now that edge of nervousness is back. "And it worked out for them in the end."

Kevin wonders exactly what talking to Bill means, but he's not sure he can ask. "What if it doesn't?"

"Fuck," Mike exhales. "Then it doesn't."

Kevin's head jerks up, and he looks at Mike.

"That doesn't mean-" Mike runs the hand not holding Kevin's through his hair. "That doesn't mean it's not worth it." He tugs Kevin a little closer. "I think it's worth it."

"Even," Kevin says, holding up his hand with the ring, "with this?"

"Even with that." Mike shrugs and ducks his head a little. "If you weren't wearing it, we'd be in my room instead of here."

Kevin can feel the blush that spreads across his cheeks.

*

Oh, fuck, sex. Mike has been really, really good about that because of Kevin's ring, even though he wants to suck Kevin off, fuck him, rub up against him until they both come in their pants like teenagers.

Their booth is private, but not quite private enough that he can pull Kevin in and kiss him. He settles for twisting their hands together and brushing his thumb over the inside of Kevin's wrist.

Kevin's blush only gets deeper.

"Oh," he says. "Really?

"Fuck, Kevin," Mike answers. "Fuck yes." He's sorry, now, that they didn't just stay in and have room service anyway. Frankie could have played video games or something and Mike could kiss him. "I want you." He touches the ring on Kevin's finger. "Whatever you're ready to give me."

"I really want to kiss you right now," Kevin blurts out.

There's a waiter keeping an eye on them without seeming to watch them, and a couple of tables of people who are at the right angle to see them even if they're not directly looking right now.

"Me too," Mike rasps back. He settles for squeezing Kevin's hand, which isn't nearly enough but will have to do until later.

Kevin squeezes back, and then he says, "I don't know what I'm ready for now, and I don't know when I will know or what I'll be ready for, and I might not want to have sex until I get married even if that has to be in Iowa."

Mike hasn't been in a relationship this long without sex since his sophomore year of high school. The fact that he's here is probably a sign that he's matured.

"I really want to have sex with you," he says to Kevin, and he didn't think Kevin could get any redder, but he does. "It's okay if you're not ready for it yet."

Kevin looks hugely relieved, which, seriously, Mike has been really good and he isn't a complete asshole. It's entirely possible that they will actually have to provide grandchildren before Kevin's parents like him, and while Genevieve is cute and all, Mike's not any readier to be a father than Kevin is to have sex with him.

"I really like you," Kevin says, and Mike's pretty sure no one has ever told him that and meant it the way Kevin does. "You're awesome."

"That's good," Mike says, and he bumps his shoulder against Kevin's, "because I really like you too." This is another one of those things he will never ever tell his band about. He's already dreading what they're going to have to say when he gets back from this trip.

"I didn't mean to," Kevin waves a hand around, "derail our date."

"I think dating is supposed to be about getting to know each other." Mike squeezes Kevin's hand. "We're cool."

Kevin smiles and squeezes back. "Cool."

*

The rest of their date goes better, Kevin thinks, although even that awkwardness seems to have served its purpose; he feels more settled about being with Mike. Plus, once he's talked to Mike about sex, even a little bit, it doesn't seem like there's anything else he can't talk to Mike about.

Mike orders wine, which Kevin doesn't care about, and he probably would have taken Mike up on his offer of a sip to try it if they weren't somewhere that people might have cell phone cameras. He probably won't mention that part of the evening to his parents.

They have dessert, and this time they share, which is even better than watching Mike eat his own dessert. It's more intimate. It makes Kevin feel more like they belong together.

He probably won't tell his family that either.

Mike pays for dinner. Kevin tries to tell him he doesn't have to even if they're closer to his hometown than Kevin's, but Mike just _looks_ at him and says, "I want to."

It maybe makes Kevin's heart melt even more.

He likes it when Mike holds the door of the cab for him, too, and then when Mike puts his hand on the small of his back, for just a moment, as they go back into the hotel. He likes it even more when they get into the elevator alone and Mike holds his hand.

"Wanna come to my room and hang out?" Mike asks before Kevin can push a button, and just like that they're back into awkward territory.

Kevin would like nothing more than to go hang out with Mike in his room.

"I can't," he says, and he can feel the way his mouth is twisting into annoyance. He hates that. He'd rather be smiling. "I want to." He pushes the button for his floor before he can let Mike tempt him any more than he already has.

Mike tugs on his hand, and then Mike's arms are around him and he's pressing his face into Mike's shoulder, and that's okay. He could stay like this for a while.

The elevator gets to his floor too soon, and he pulls himself away enough to walk down the hall. They stop in front of his door, and he reaches for Mike's other hand too.

"Thank you," Kevin says. "I had a good time."

Mike's just kind of smiling at him. "Me too." He leans in to press a too brief kiss to Kevin's lips. Kevin wants more than just that.

"Frankie's probably sleeping," he says. "Come in and you can kiss me if you're quiet."

Mike nods, and waits patiently while Kevin swipes his keycard. Frankie is asleep, the room mostly dark with one lamp still on so Kevin can see his way to bed. He'll use the light for that purpose later, but now he uses it to see his way to Mike.

Mike waits for him, back against the wall and hands loose at his sides, leaving Kevin to press their mouths together. It's soft for a moment, and then Mike parts his lips and they're kissing deeply. Kevin puts his hands just above the curve of Mike's hips. The kissing makes him dizzy, and his breath sounds too loud every time they part.

If they'd gone up to Mike's room- Kevin doesn't let himself go very far down that road. They didn't, and they won't. This is what they have, this kissing that he wants to do forever, and staying quiet so they don't wake Frankie up. In a way, he likes it. It feels like he's getting away with something even though he's totally not. Even his parents can't get too upset about this. He hopes.

Mike stops kissing him, and Kevin doesn't understand why he would do that. He can feel Mike's hands shaking where they curve over Kevin's shoulders.

*

Mike trembles with the need to drag Kevin up to his room and just _take_ him. He wants to throw Kevin down on a bed and kiss him until he forgets everything and just lets Mike do whatever he wants. He wants to slide to his knees and make Kevin come right here.

He said he wouldn't, though. He said he would let Kevin figure out what he's ready for, and Mike's not sure he can do much more of this without letting it get the better of him.

He tips his forehead against Kevin's and says, "I should probably go."

Kevin's hands tighten on his hips, which is really not helping with his control here.

"Kevin," he groans, almost too loud.

"I don't want you to." Kevin does a better job of staying quiet.

Mike has to kiss him again, and then he pushes Kevin back a step because he might not be able to leave if they don't stop touching.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Mike says, trying to bring things down to a more ordinary level.

Kevin's hands flutter like he doesn't know what to do with them now. "You're going to have brunch with us, right?" He sounds nervous.

Mike wants to reach for him, but he doesn't, even though the mention of brunch - which is supposed to include Kevin's whole family and God only knows how many members of his band and entourage - is having about the same effect as a bucket of cold water on Mike's libido.

"Yeah," he says. "What time?"

Kevin looks relieved. "Ten. Downstairs." He smiles, not quite as wide as Mike would like, and adds, "Just look for the giant table full of people."

Mike does touch him then, cupping Kevin's cheek in his hand. "It'll be okay," he says. He presses his lips to Kevin's lightly. "And next time you're in Chicago, you can meet my family." He didn't think before saying it, but he doesn't take it back. Kevin already met his band; he might as well meet his family. Of course, he's pretty sure his family is going to like Kevin more than Kevin's family likes him.

Kevin nods and presses in against Mike. Mike puts his arms around Kevin automatically, and Kevin burrows into the hug, clinging tightly to him. Mike has another one of those moments where he never wants to let go, so it's just as well that Kevin lets go first.

"Goodnight," Kevin says.

Mike presses his lips against Kevin's one more time. "See you in the morning." He pulls the door open and slips out of it before he can't stop himself from reaching for Kevin again.

*

The chair next to Kevin is empty, and he's fidgeting worse than Frankie. It's not ten yet, but his family likes to be early, especially when there's food involved. Nick's already sipping orange juice, and Frankie's asking Mom if he can get something with whipped cream.

He feels like he's staring at the entrance to the hotel restaurant, but he must not be because Mike is already halfway to them before Kevin sees him.

He's dressed casually again, in jeans and a plain black t-shirt. He still makes Kevin's heart pound. Kevin smiles at him, and he smiles back, coming around the table to take the chair next to Kevin, just like he belongs there.

He takes Kevin's hand under the table, and Kevin hangs on a little desperately. He wants his family to like Mike, and it's making him nervous.

Frankie and Nick are still occupying Mom and Dad, so Kevin introduces Mike to the rest of the band. They're all very polite, so they shake Mike's hand, and Garbo even talks to him about music, and Kevin relaxes. A little bit, anyway, and then everyone's there and he can hide behind his menu while they all take time deciding what to eat. Not that there's that much to decide; everyone being together means Kevin's stuck with the slightly healthier things, even if Mom's finally giving in and saying Frankie can have whipped cream on his hot chocolate.

Mike orders his pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream and murmurs, "I'll share" into Kevin's ear. Kevin tries to stifle his grin but doesn't have much luck.

After the waitress takes their menus away, Mom says, "It's been a while since we last saw you, Mike. How have you been?"

Kevin tenses because this is where it could all go horribly wrong.

"Good," Mike says. He stopped holding Kevin's hand when they were looking at their menus, but now he puts it on Kevin's thigh. "We went on tour, and we're working on music. Bill has this plan for an EP instead of a full-length."

Nick narrows his eyes at Mike. "Why an EP?"

Mike shrugs. "Less pressure, and it lets us get some music out faster. We're doing a limited CD release, mostly selling it on iTunes."

"Have you done anything like this before?" Nick asks. Kevin's used to his intense focus on business, but it can be kind of scary if you don't know him. He hopes this isn't too much for Mike.

"Nope. Trying something new." Mike's hand on Kevin's thigh is still totally relaxed.

"We can't wait to hear it," Joe says.

Mike turns to Kevin. "I'll have to send you a copy when we're done with it." He looks at Joe again. "You can share."

*

Kevin's family and band is a lot of people, but they're not particularly intimidating. They're all very polite, at least, which is more than he can say for his band. If he didn't know that Kevin's parents aren't particularly fond of him, he wouldn't be able to figure it out from the way they act toward him.

It probably helps that Frankie has the cup Mike bought him yesterday and refuses to drink out of anything else. Parents love that kind of kid stuff.

There are also enough people here that there's a lot of conversation that doesn't rely on interrogating him.

The weird part is when their food comes, and everyone waits, which Mike knows polite people do, and then everyone bows their heads while Kevin's dad says a prayer. Mike's family might say grace at Christmas and Easter, and sometimes on Thanksgiving, but it's never been a thing with them, so this is totally unfamiliar territory.

Mike sneaks a look at Kevin while he's probably supposed to have his eyes closed to better commune with Jesus or whatever it is they do. Kevin has his eyes closed and his hands folded in front of him, and he looks like this is the kind of thing he does every day, which, Mike supposes, he does.

It's weird, and Mike feels more out of depth with this than with anything else about Kevin. He wants nothing more than to call up Bill and ask if this is what Christine's family is like and what he does about it.

He manages to have his head bowed when Kevin's dad comes to the end of the prayer, so at least he looks like he fits in, and then conversation picks up right where it left off, with the addition of a lot of "pass the syrup" and chewing.

Kevin's looking away, talking to Nick and Joe about what they're going to wear to soundcheck - and who plans that, anyway? - when Mike transfers a couple of bites of pancake with strawberry and whipped cream on them onto his plate.

Kevin doesn't seem to notice until he's already eating it, and then he turns that amazing, happy smile on Mike.

Of course, that gets Nick's attention, and he looks pointedly at Kevin's plate and then at Mike, but apparently Nick is on their side, because he doesn't do anything to bring more attention to it.

Kevin misses the whole exchange because Joe is saying something to him about penguins. At least Mike thinks it's about penguins. He's hungry enough that he just wants to eat, and the members of Kevin's band on his other side are talking about Jesus like he's some guy they know. This whole brunch is one of the weirder experiences of his life, and he's been on tour with Cobra Starship, so that's saying something.

*

Brunch goes well. Kevin's family and the band are all nice to Mike, and Mike. Well, Kevin's just happy to have Mike there, and the way Mike slips him strawberries and whipped cream right under Nick's nose is awesome.

"We have press to do all day," Kevin says to Mike when everyone's taking last sips of their coffee and gathering up their things to leave. "It's not very interesting, but you can come with us if you want." He bites his lip. "Unless you want to just hang out or have something else to do."

Mike touches his hand, briefly. "I want to spend time with you," he says softly enough that probably no one else will hear him.

Kevin knows he's turning bright red, which will totally give away what kind of conversation they're having. He glances around quickly, but people are looking in their direction, so he can't hold Mike's hand. He settles for bumping his shoulder against Mike's.

So that's how Mike gets herded along with the rest of them into cars and off to radio stations and interview suites.

It's awesome to be able to look over, or come out of a radio booth, and see Mike listening to and watching him.

It's one of the last interviewers who does a double-take when she sees Mike. She's just professional enough that she settles in to ask them the same questions everyone asks them. It's only at the end that she turns off her tape recorder, caps her pen, and turns to Mike.

"So what's a member of The Academy Is... doing with the Jonas Brothers?" she asks, and Kevin watches Mike stay absolutely still. "You don't seem like likely collaborators."

Mike's eyes flicker to Kevin before he shrugs one shoulder and says, "Bill wrote a song with Demi Lovato."

Kevin doesn't think letting her think they're working together is really the best strategy. He's still trying to figure out what to say when Nick steps in. Kevin had almost forgotten he was there, but of course Nick knows what to do.

"Mike's just a friend," he says to the reporter in that way he has that means you'd better accept his answer or else. "He was in the area and decided to hang out with us for a while."

The reporter looks between them like she doesn't believe Nick's story.

"You're based in Chicago," she says to Mike. "What brought you to Cleveland?"

Mike does the same one-shouldered shrug again and says, "Hadn't been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a while."

Dad steps in then and says, "I'm sorry to have to do this, but we have other interviews scheduled."

The interviewer glances back at them as she leaves, and Kevin really hopes that doesn't show up in her article.

*

"Two more interviews," Kevin's dad says, "and then soundcheck." He doesn't sound particularly happy with them, and Mike really wants to go to Kevin and tell him it'll be okay, but of course the next interviewer is already coming in and he can't.

He does hang back more for the last two, trying to blend in with the rest of Kevin's entourage, even though he doesn't look anything like them. At least neither of those interviewers notice him.

And then the interviews are done and they're all being hustled off to cars again.

Mike ends up squished between Kevin and Joe in the back seat of a car, and he doesn't at all mind the way Kevin's pressed all along his side.

Nick turns around in the front seat to stare at Mike. "You know," he says, "just because you don't care about your relationship with the press doesn't mean we don't care about ours."

Kevin goes suddenly tense next to him, and Mike puts his hand on Kevin's thigh, trying to tell him it's okay. Mike has fought with Bill over music and band matters for years; he can handle Nick Jonas yelling at him.

"Nick," Joe says, but Nick ignores him.

"You didn't have to answer her, but you could have at least resisted the urge to be a smart alec."

He's very earnest. Mike can't help but think that Bill would have laughed about it, probably will laugh when Mike tells him about it.

"I didn't want her asking me questions any more than you did," Mike says, keeping in mind that Nick is very much not Bill and he can't yell back.

"People are going to ask," Kevin says.

Mike looks at him, but Kevin's looking at Nick, not him. It takes Nick's attention away from him too.

Nick's lips are pressed tightly together. He parts them to say, "I was hoping they wouldn't ask for a while longer."

*

It's Joe who says, "That's obviously not going to work."

Kevin reaches for Mike's hand and grips it too tightly. He doesn't want to have this conversation with both his brothers and Mike - he's not sure he wants to have it at all - but maybe it's better if they do it now, with just them, and present it as a complete plan later.

Kevin takes a deep breath and says, "You don't want anyone to know we're dating."

Nick stops looking angry and looks guilty instead, which isn't a look Kevin sees on his face very often.

Mike tugs on Kevin's hand and asks, "What do you want?"

The first thing he thinks is that he wants Mike, which, given their conversation last night, makes him fight down a blush. He wants his family to like Mike. He wants to play music.

"That reporter's not going to be the only person to notice," Joe says. "We can just not deny."

Kevin doesn't want to tell lies about his life.

"My band isn't going to care," Mike says. He leans more against Kevin's shoulder. It's very comforting.

"I don't want to lie," Kevin says, because he's pretty sure about that one. As much as other people think they have a say in things, Nick really runs the show, so Kevin asks him, "What if we just don't deny it?"

"We can do that," Nick says slowly. "It'll mean a lot of talk and speculation that will only take away from our music."

"You could just tell people," Joe says, "or make the PR people do it. That would at least get it all over with."

Nick doesn't look very happy about that either. "Things are going to be tough either way." Then he asks Mike, "Are you going to bail if the press and our fans are hounding you all the time?"

"No." Mike sounds sure, and he squeezes Kevin's hand. "And you're not going to scare me away either, if you were going to try that."

"I wasn't!" Nick protests.

Joe snickers, but Joe is like that. Joe is also sometimes helpful, because he says, "We could do both. Tell PR to work on a statement, and use that when people start asking questions."

Kevin likes the way that means he doesn't have to lie and doesn't have to do anything about it yet. Things seem a lot more serious now that they've talked about sex, but Kevin still doesn't know if this is going to work out.

"Is that okay with you?" he asks Mike.

"Yeah." Mike squeezes his hand again. "Whatever works for you."

*

Mike didn't really pay attention during soundcheck. It's not like he wasn't trying, but Kevin was dressed like a penguin and Joe was wearing a polar bear costume, and they were both teasing Nick about not putting on the seal costume, and none of that was particularly conducive to actually watching them play.

So standing side stage and watching their show is basically the first time he's really seen them perform. Their crowd is a little high-pitched for his taste, and the music isn't quite his thing, but they put on a good show. The crowd loves it anyway, and they know how to use the stage.

Mike thinks about all of this because if he just looks at Kevin, he's going to have to stop watching in favor of finding somewhere he can be alone.

Kevin has a stage presence Mike had no clue about. They all do, really, when he can manage to tear his eyes away from Kevin and look at them, but it's Kevin's that has his heart racing and his breath coming faster.

Kevin leans back as he plays sometimes, and it just pushes his hips out and has his whole body arching up in a way that puts pictures in Mike's mind of Kevin arching up off a bed like that.

Even from the side of the stage Mike can see the way the lights gleam off of the sweat that runs down his neck.

All in all, it's pretty much the hottest thing Mike has ever seen.

Kevin is less like the sex god of Mike's dreams between songs, and more like the same cheerfully friendly guy Mike first met in the pizza parlor.

And then their set is done, and Kevin comes off stage grinning and sweaty and headed straight for Mike.

"What did you think?" he asks.

Mike makes an abortive movement toward Kevin before he remembers there are people around who don't know, and he can't. "Come with me," he says instead.

"We have an encore," Kevin protests.

"Just for a minute," Mike says. He turns away to keep from jumping Kevin right there, damn their audience, and there's an only minimally hidden corner that Kevin follows him to. Mike lets him go first, and Kevin leans against the wall, his eyes still sparkling with the high that comes from being on stage.

Mike has to kiss him, can't not when he looks like that. He doesn't care that Kevin's sweaty and messy, likes it even, and he presses himself against Kevin and pushes his hands into Kevin's hair as they kiss.

Kevin makes a noise that's swallowed up in the intensity of their kiss, and then Mike makes himself pull away. Kevin looks even more like sex with his lips just a little more red and his hair just a little more messy.

"Kevin," Nick calls, impatient.

Kevin stares at Mike, and Mike steps back to let him out of the corner. "Go," he says. "I'll wait." Oh, fuck, he means more than the encore. He means everything. He's not sure that makes it across to Kevin, because he just brushes his lips across Mike's cheek on his way back to the stage.

There's a disapproving twist on Kevin's dad's face, and his mom isn't too busy paying attention to Frankie to frown a little.

Mike makes his way back to his spot at the side of the stage, and Kevin turns when he gets back out there to smile back at him.

Mike smiles back and thinks about Bill saying, "If you love him, it's worth it if you can tough it out." Disapproving parents and media scrutiny are nothing. Mike can totally tough this out.


End file.
